


The Fracturing of Five

by Demi_Chaos



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dimension Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sparrow Academy, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demi_Chaos/pseuds/Demi_Chaos
Summary: While trying to jump across dimensions, Five Hargreeves gets “Fractured”, a rare side effect of frequent time travel that splits the host into fragments of a full person that need to be put back together like a sad puzzle. If the traveller was lucky, they would split into a couple of parts; they might even be able to put themselves back together as quickly as it happens, avoiding all the emotional moments and touchy subjects that follow.Of course, Five was never that lucky. He gets split into too many pieces and it's up to the rest of the Umbrella Academy to put him back together.
Comments: 112
Kudos: 281





	1. Where are we?

Five knew something was wrong right from the moment they landed. While the rest were chatting about what they wanted to do now that they were back home, Five looked around. They landed right in the middle of the foyer with today’s newspaper intentionally left right there for them to see, someone must have been expecting them. Five’s head was already running wild with thoughts of what is going on. Then they saw Reginald...and the Sparrow Academy...and the person that looks exactly like, but isn’t, Ben.

“Shit”

Five didn’t have a moment to lose. The longer they stood around, the more likely it was that his siblings would say something that could ruin his chances. He walked over to the old man, grabbed his shoulder and disappeared in a flash of blue.

The rest of both families were confused. Klaus kept his eyes on one guy only, slowly inching forward. “Ben?” 

The man’s face contorted in confusion. “What? My name’s Ernest.” 

A look flashed across Klaus’s face. What little hope he had was squashed. He shouldn’t have been stupid enough to assume that this was Ben. 

“Does anyone want to tell us what is going on?” an odd voice sounded from the glowing green cube was currently hovering down. 

Not- Ben shot him a look, “Chrisopher, dad said that we aren’t supposed to show ourselves to any strangers”

“Come on Ernest, I’m pretty sure they haven’t met my counterpart yet”

“Counterpart?” Allison glanced at her family, trying to see if any of them had an idea of what was going on. She was met with faces of confusion.

“Shit… okay. Sparrow Academy, stay upstairs. We don’t want to risk anything else getting exposed.” Ernest shot the cube another look and sat down, beckoning for the others to do the same. The shadowy figures upstairs backed away from the railing. Diego sat down first, his leg hurt too much to keep standing on it. The rest followed. The tension was still high when they heard Reginald’s voice break out

“It’s impossible!”

Luthor jumped up from the sofa, about to follow the sound upstairs, feeling the need to go and calm his dad down. Memories of all the times he’s had to redirect his father’s anger flooded his head, but Allison’s hand on his arm stopped him. She shook her head as he sat back down beside her. 

Not-Ben sighed when the sun had long since set outside and asked that his siblings go elsewhere. The shuffling of several feet echoed through the halls. Guess even these people can’t handle sitting in tense silence for hours.

“Listen,” he started “I’m not sure what’s going on, but it looks like this might take a while. I’m pretty sure you won’t attack us. We would take you down if you did. I’m going to go get dinner. Don’t follow me.” Just like that, the guy got up and walked away.

“What do you think is going on?” Klaus asked, slouching in his chair more. “I like to imagine that little Fivey is beating him up. Anyone with me?”

Diego laughed from beside him “If Five is actually up there kicking dad’s ass, I’d like to thank him personally.”

They all chuckled, imagining their brother handing their dad’s ass to him. 

“Five could take him.” Diego said “You saw how Five fights, he could take the old man on”

“But we’ve never seen dad fight.” Vanya clutched a pillow closer to herself “at least, I didn’t.”

Allison was quick to reassure her, “We’ve never seen dad fight. Even when he taught us, it was just verbal. He’d say where to punch and we did.”

“He was always a backseat driver. Then he gets mad at us for crashing the car” Klaus laughed, looking back and forth between his siblings but there was no time to make sure the joke landed since Five and Reginald were walking back . They all got up, squaring their shoulders and puffing their chest up.

As the two got closer, they noticed Reginald’s hand resting on Five’s shoulder. Five was allowing his hand to rest there.

“You… you good?” Diego tried asking Five, eyes not leaving the offending hand.

“We came to an agreement. Considering this isn’t actually our house, we have to spend the night elsewhere. We can use this as a base of operations until we figure out how to get to our proper timeline.” Five spoke, but no one was listening. All eyes lingered on the hand.

“Is that okay with you all?” Five didn’t seem to notice the tension.

“Oh, uh… yeah that sounds fine.” Allison tore her eyes away from Five’s shoulder and looked at the rest of her siblings.

“Good. Well then, lets go” Five began walking away, but Reginald held on to his shoulder.

Diego threatened Reginald, but the arm stayed exactly where it was.

“Have you formulated a proper cover story, Five? You must return to this manor without detection. I do not wish for you to become intertwined with the personnel of the law”

“Don’t underestimate me. You should be worrying about your own children.” 

Five stepped away, his siblings following behind him.

“Where are we going, Fivey?” Klaus asked as he skipped over to his brother’s side. 

“We’re heading to a motel.” He said as he stood right outside the manor. He’s really tired. The rest must have noticed since Luther stood by him and looked up at the moon before speaking. 

“We’ll get back to our timeline, I’m sure of it. We need to rest for now.”

An odd bunch all dressed in black would have been alarming, but they caught the only empty bus this night. Five ignored the conversation and focused on keeping himself awake. When was his last cup of coffee? When was the last time he ate? He doesn’t remember. He had other things to focus on, and right now was no different.

The bus came to a stop beside the motel and they got off. Five waited to get off last, making sure that they all got off safely. Allison and Vanya stepped down first, followed by Klaus holding on to Diego. Five kept his eyes on the driver as Luther stepped out. They seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite realize why. He thanked the driver, receiving a tip of the hat as the bus doors closed. 

Five told Allison about their cover story and stood back taking in the room as she worked her skills. 

“Oh uh… hello and welcome to...” the receptionist stood up and watched Allison with uneasy eyes. Noting the rest of the family all terribly dressed behind her. They must have looked like a cult of sorts. She wouldn’t be wrong to think that. Allison put on her best performance. Gently leaning on the counter, taking a shaky breath.

“I need six beds. We’re coming for a college friend’s funeral and...” She looked up, as if she were suppressing tears. “I just don’t know what to do without Ben...”

The rest got tense as Ben’s name came up. It must have really been convincing since the receptionist was tearing up too. She sat at the computer and clicked a few buttons. 

“All we have is a single room with two queen beds and a pullout couch. I can bring in a rollaway bed for the kid?” The lady leaned away from Allison to look at Five.

“That sounds great,” Five replied, flashing the lady a tight smile.

“Rooms 109 is yours. Let me know if you need anything, sweetheart” The old lady reached out and grabbed Allison’s hand, placing the keys in them. Allison gripped them back.

“I will. Thank you mam. Have a nice evening”

They walked out a little more emotional than they walked in. They got to the relatively large room and sat wherever they saw fit. Luthor took to the bed closer to the door, Allison choosing the bed beside him. Klaus and Diego sat on the sofa that was against the wall opposite the beds, beside the closet and dresser. Vanya hovered at the table beside the door before sitting at it. Now a little more comfortable, Diego was the first to break the silence.

“Ben’s with us, right?” He looked around, trying to find where Ben could be sitting. Vanya and Klaus shared a look.

“Ben’s gone” Klaus looked down into his hands for a bit before letting them drop.

“What? He was with us back in the 60s!” Diego looked at Klaus.

“Wait, I thought you said ghosts can’t time travel” Allison asked, sitting more upright.

“I lied about that. Ben was pissing me off back then and I wanted to annoy him.” Klaus was still looking at his hands.

“Wait, did you know about this, Vanya?” Diego turned his head from his brother to his sister.

“When I was about to lose control in the FBI building… Ben was the one who talked me into calming down. He said he couldn’t come back with me. ” Vanya sighed.

They were quiet after that. No one noticed that Five wasn’t in the room until he walked in with some plastic bags, setting them down at the table beside Vanya.

“What do you have there Fivey” Klaus stood up and walked over.

“I got you all something to eat.” Five walked around the room, quickly glancing through the closets and drawers. The others made their way to the table, each grabbing a styrofoam box and digging in.

“Damn, this is good. Where’d you even get the money for this?” Diego spoke over the spoonfuls of rice in his mouth. 

“Reginald handed me some cash” Five’s voice rang out from the bathroom.

Diego choked on his next spoonful. Vanya patted him on the back while Klaus scrambled to get a bottle of water.

Five kept up his search as Diego rasped out “He did what?” 

“You stole money from dad?” Luther asked from the bed. He looked at his siblings, trying to imagine how Five could have stolen the money. Five came out of the bathroom and continued looking around.

“No you dumbass, I literally just said that it was given to me. Reginald offered me some money to support us while we’re here.”

“I didn’t think dear daddy knew how to care about his kids” 

“This isn’t the same man who raised us, Klaus.” Five ceased his search, aggressively patting his clothes down. 

“Can this entire place really not have one piece of chalk? Or a decent marker?” he sighed “I’m heading out. Here,” He handed them each a fifty dollar bill. “Spend it however you want just promise me you won’t be out for long.”

“Five what is this about?” Allison asked, looking offended at the money.

“I’m going to find us a way home. You need to promise me that you won’t get into trouble while I’m gone. No starting cults or falling in love or working for a mafia boss or getting thrown into an asylum in this timeline. You can go to the academy if you want to spend time there for whatever reason.”

Vanya shot him a worried look, “Wait but we just got back. Can’t you take the day off?” 

“I don’t need one”

“You look like shit”

“Gee, thanks Luthor. I didn’t notice.” Five shot Luthor a tight smile.

“We’re just worried about you” 

“Worry about yourselves okay?”

Without waiting for a response, Five jumped out. 

  
  


Klaus got from his seat and tossed himself on one of the beds. “Ugh I hate it when he does that. He’s so dramatic!” Diego smirked, and laid down beside his brother “Tell me about it.” The two fell into a conversation side by side. 

Vanya and Allison made their way to the other bed, where Luthor was sitting. “I guess this one is ours”. Luther looked confused, but got up when Allison ushered him towards the couch, saying something about how it’s better for his back to sleep on it. 

They spent most of the night exactly like that, chatting among themselves before falling asleep.

Five didn’t get to sleep that night. 

He went back to the academy, Reginald waiting for him at the door, box of chalk in hand. The two don’t say anything as they take the elevator down. Reginald places his hand on Five’s shoulder again and squeezes in an attempt to be reassuring. When the ride stops, Five steps into the room holding the containment chamber and begins the process of finding the exact equation he needs to get his family home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I finally posted it! You can find me on tumblr @demi_chaos  
> https://demi-chaos.tumblr.com/  
> Hope you like this!


	2. Who is that guy?

The Umbrella Academy woke up to a pile of donuts and a pot of coffee on the table. Five had probably dropped the food off sometime in the early morning. They ate, continuing their conversations from last night.

Vanya, however, wasn’t eating. She was curled up on the couch, looking around at her siblings, noticing how relaxed and carefree they seemed. Diego noticed her staring and moved to sit beside her. 

“What’s up, Vanya?”

She stared into the pink, sprinkle covered donut, her soft voice aimed at it than her brother.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just surprised that we’re all getting along...you and Luther didn’t even try to throw hands once”

Diego smiled, resting his arm across Vanya’s shoulders and pulling her into his chest. 

“That’s because we just got up.” After a few moments, he continued in a more serious tone. “We all had to deal with dad’s shit parenting, we didn’t realize we had eachother. Now that the old man kicked the dust and the world isn’t about to be poofed, we can take care of eachother. I’m going to beat Luther’s ass later”

Vanya smiled up at Diego, finally biting into her breakfast. The frosting had melted into a sticky mess around her fingers but she didn’t really care. Diego got up and poured himself a cup of coffee, mentioning how good it was. She wished Five was here to give his thoughts on it.

After the donuts had disappeared, Klaus got an idea. He stool, smiling maniacally, pulling Allison up with him.

“Where are you going?” 

“We should go to the mall! We have money and I need something stylish to impress the Sparrow Academy” Allison looked at what she was wearing, then back at Klaus, nodding.

“What’s wrong with what you’re wearing right now?”

Allison and Klaus both shot Luther a look. 

“Are you serious? They saw us in this yesterday! My clothes are all bloody and dusty and absolutely out of style!” Allison linked her arms with Klaus.

“Klaus is right. We need something better to wear.” 

“Okay. Where exactly are we going?” Luther stood up, Diego and Vanya following after them.

“First of all, as the leader of our little journey-”

“You’ll lead us into an early grave”

“Hush Diego, you should learn when to give up control. I’m leading us into an adventure.” Diego snickered and followed the rest out, Vanya behind him. “Vanny darling, lock the door behind you and make sure you got the keys with you. We don’t want to break these pretty windows trying to come back in later”

They were standing in a circle right outside their motel as Vanya jiggled the keys. Diego trusted Klaus, he could deal with Klaus’s supposed leadership for a few hours. He wondered if that made them a cult. Klaus went on and on about his plan for the day as they walked down the stairs and towards the bus stop. 

“After we finish buying ourselves some clothes, we are coming back here to freshen up before we face the music.”

  
  


“What music?” Luther asked. Diego shook his head, whispering a joke to Vanya beside him, the bus showed up before anyone could ask about it. The empty bus took them almost directly to a local mall not too far from the motel. They all disappeared inside the first clothing store they found, each sibling finding clothes that suit their own style.

They met back up at the cash register about 30 minutes later. As the cashier rang up their items, Klaus placed down a few items that definitely seemed too small for him. 

“It’s too small for you,” Luther pointed out. Klaus laughed it off.

“Have you been staring at me, brother of mine? Keep your eyes on someone that’s a little more interested. No I don’t mean Allison, I mean this pretty person over here” Klaus winked at the person working the cash register but they didn’t respond, busy with all the clothes they had to scan through. Klaus kept going “Don’t worry, it’s not for me. I like my hoodies at least three sizes too large so I can shove all my emotional baggage in there with me, and maroon is _so_ not my color, I prefer brighter tones. I got these for little Fivey, I never want to see him in that bloody shirt that he keeps wearing ever again.” The cashier stopped bagging the clothes and stared at Klaus. 

“You know how teenage boys are.” His joke was met with a blank stare. Were retail workers always this dead inside?

“Your total is $418.69”

The Hargeeves stared at each other with wide open eyes. Buying entire outfits for 5 adults and a child was quite costly. Diego was about to ask the clerk to set the bags aside, thinking of a story about how they all left their wallets in the car, but he saw Klaus’s hand reach over to the bags.

“Ahem” A voice sounded out from behind them, startling them all. Five walked up to them, his steps loud against the marble floor. “I believe this should cover it” He handed the cashier some hundred dollar bills from his short pockets. He grabbed some of the plastic bags as they punched some numbers in the machine, the little money drawer dinging as it opened.  
  
“Keep the change” He flashed a tight smile and walked away, leaving a sputtering cashier behind. His family gathered up the rest of the clothes and chased after Five.

“How did you know we didn’t have enough money.” 

“I didn’t. Just figured you numb nuts were up to no good.” Five headed towards the bathrooms, handing them their bags. He leaned against the wall by the entrance. “We don’t have time to go back to the motel, get dressed here.” They all went in, eager to get into something cleaner. Klaus was the first to walk out, showing off his new outfit.

“Five what do you think?”

“It looks good on you.” Klaus smiled at the praise. Five always complimented him when he asked back when they were younger. The moment of peace was broken when Luther came out of the bathroom.

“I had one of these on me. I could’ve paid with it” Luther pulled out a bill from his old overcoat and handed it to Five. It was a thousand dollar note. Five held it up to the light, confirming its legitimacy. He didn’t realize working for Jack Ruby paid that well.

“These were taken out of circulation in 1969. If you had paid with that, we would get the cops called on us for assumed theft, use of counterfeit bills or absolute stupidity. No one pays with these.” Five gave Luther the bill back. “You’re better off holding on to it. Keep it as a reminder of your everlasting daddy issues” Luther didn’t know what to say, his blind anger fizzled away when he saw Allison. 

Five didn’t compliment anyone else’s outfit. They didn’t ask him to. They passed by a pretzel cart, insisting on getting some before walking back to the bus stop. As they were waiting for the snack, Klaus held out the last bag for Five to take.

“I got you a gift”

“Klaus, it's not a gift if I was the one that paid for it”

“Just look at it”

Five opened the bag and pulled the thing out. It was a hoodie. At first glance, it was the same hoodie he had worn back in the apocalypse. He felt harsh wind slapping his face, ash blurring his vision and burning his lungs, heat burning against his back.

He needed to stop himself from slipping back into that time. He needed to be here to guide his siblings back into their own timeline. Five repeated that thought in his head over and over, grounding himself with it. Five looked at his brother.

“Do you like it? I didn’t know what colour you’d like so I went with maroon. I think it’ll bring out the green in your eyes.” Klaus asked, hands fidgeting with his sleeves. Five looked back at the hoodie. It wasn’t even remotely similar to the one he was thinking of. Five had no idea what got into him. 

“It’ll do. Good job finding something decent, Klaus” he placed the hoodie back inside the bag. 

They headed to the bus stop where they were the only ones on. Five sat far away from the rest of his siblings, leaning his head against the back of the chair with his eyes closed. He felt the bus shake a little as his siblings shuffled around, but didn’t bother checking.

Eventually, the bus began to move, the familiar hiss sounding through the air. He felt Klaus settle down beside him. Five quickly moved the shopping bag from his lap to sit between them. He needed a barrier between them. He really didn’t feel like getting all touchy-touchy with his brother, he couldn’t risk accidentally jumping somewhere and landing outside the bus entirely, even one jump would ruin his plan. Klaus seemed to understand, leaning his head on the window, mirroring Five. 

It was endearing to say the least.

When the bus stopped, Five waited for his other siblings to get off first, again. He noticed that his bus driver was the same as the one who dropped them at the motel. Five was extremely suspicious. Had he been a normal man, he would have assumed that this bus’s route just happened to include the academy, mall and hotel. Five was anything but normal.

He would have done something about the bus driver, but he needed to make sure the others were safe. Those idiots could get into trouble with the blink of an eye. He thanked the driver, receiving a tip of the hat. When he got off, he took note of the bus’s number plate, model and the route map and time schedule posted in the bus stop. Five walked into the Sparrow Academy, where his family had already gone in. He saw Klaus leaning against a couch, Ernest standing beside him. He noticed that the others were hanging out at the bar, probably trying to get something to drink. Five was about to join them when he heard what Klaus was saying

“He looks exactly like you, but his face wasn’t scarred. Oh and his hair is much more well-styled. Ben didn’t have an emo phase, you see.” 

Klaus was explaining Ben to Ernest.

Shit.

“And his powers wer-”

“Okay,” Five forced himself between the two, subtly pushing Ernest away and facing Klaus “That’s enough. You shouldn’t be giving him any information. You barely know the guy”

“Come on Five, let the guy speak. He has a lovely voice” Ernest winked at Klaus’s shocked face. Five sighed, face pinched in his hands. He wasn’t going to let up was he?

“It could ruin your timeline, Ernest.”

“More than you being here does?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you tell me how?” Ernest tried touching Five, but Five was already on the move, a new plan already in motion. He needed to make sure that his siblings won’t say or do anything they might regret. 

“So,” he clapped, grabbing everyone’s attention “what do you want to do now that we’re all here?”

“I’m going to go look around. Make sure this place isn’t some sort of trap.” Diego, looked at Ernest, who was standing way too close to Five for his comfort.

“You’re smarter than expected, but you don’t need to worry about a thing. This place is our home. We’ve lived here our entire lives.” Ernest grinned at Diego, trying to place his arm nonchalantly across Five’s shoulder, but Five stepped out of the way.

The rest agreed with Diego’s plan, promising to keep their eyes peeled for anything dangerous or out of place. Ernest wanted to tail them, but Chrisopher called him over.

Five followed a few paces behind the rest as they toured the Academy. Five watched as they entered room after room, taking in the details, trying to make sure they don’t miss anything. He would have joined in their search, but he hasn’t been here in years. He shoved the feelings of nostalgia about the place about two weeks ago. He wasn’t going to get all gooey and soft about the house he wasn’t technically raised in. 

After their trip was over, Diego suggested they wait until they got to the motel to discuss what they saw, not wanting to voice his thoughts while the Sparrows were around. They never fully saw anyone aside from Christopher and Ernest, but they caught the shadows of the others. And so they headed to the motel. Five insisted that they walk, not ready to face the bus driver again, but also needing to set his plan in motion. He said it was so they can go to the supermarket the bus doesn’t stop at. 

“You need to get food to last you until tomorrow,” he spoke as he was walking inside. They all stood right outside the door, shouting questions at him. He sighed. This was going to take a toll on him. He walked back out, a lie ready on his lips.

“We’ve spent too much time outside already. You should spend tomorrow indoors to avoid suspicion. We don’t want the locals recognizing you as the freaks from the 60s. Now go in and grab the bread and beans.”

Vanya and Allison walked in together with a shopping cart. Klaus ran inside, probably trying to steal as much as he could before he got kicked out, Diego ran in behind him, probably to stop him from stealing. Luther stood outside with his arms crossed. Five angrily grabbed one of Luther’s massive arms and walked in with him. He dragged his brother all the way to the candy aisle, passing by several people on the way. He looked for a few moments, then pointed at the chocolate bar on the highest shelf. Luther handed him a singular one and stared. 

Five looked at Luther.

Luther looked at Five. 

Five looked at the bars on the shelf, then back at Luther. 

A giant hand grabbed a singular new bar, placing it with the other one in Five’s hands. Five nodded his head slowly, encouragingly as Luther grabbed another bar. Then another. Five sighed, impatient, and stood on one of the lower shelves, grabbing the whole sealed box of peanut butter fudge bars.

“You don’t need that many”

“The only thing I don’t _need_ is a headache, but you’ve handed me one. Why don’t you go find someone else to annoy”

Five stomped away, leaving Luther alone to figure out what he wanted to do. Five stopped in the coffee aisle, and grabbed several different tins, sticks and bags. He didn’t care about the coffee itself at this point. He’d drink anything as long as it gave him enough energy. Ignoring the looks that were directed at him, he paid for his things and left. Five was too tired to care anymore. He stood outside, tearing into the first chocolate bar when someone coughed beside him. He could tell who it was from the way he stood too close.

“What did you get? You know, this is their second shopping trip today. Dad’s money will run out if you keep this up. Your siblings-”

“What do you want?” Five barked, taking another massive bite of the chocolate. He wasn’t even tasting it at this point, he ate like a starving man. He hoped Ernest didn’t notice that. He didn’t want someone else using his hunger against him.

“I’m just saying, your lot is stimulating the hell out of our economy. Dad’s money is decades old, who knows when it was last circulated.” 

“Listen, I know there’s something fishy going on here. I will figure it out even if you don’t tell me what it is” Five took a bite as the other laughed. 

“I can help you”

“Sure you can.”

“I know I can. Also, just so you know. I know what you plan on doing” Ernest was so full of himself, Five wanted to see where this would go.

“Oh yeah? Enlighten me”

“You’re going to lock them in your little hotel room until you figure out something better.”

Five turned to look at the guy. Ernest’s face didn’t remind him of Ben. When he thinks of his brother, he imagines a 13 year old kid scared of the monsters in his gut. Ernest didn’t know that. He didn’t know his actual plan either.

“...you got me. Do you have a better plan?”

“Yeah. Let them stay at the Academy. We have more than enough rooms to host you all. We have enough food to last us at least three lifetimes each. You know they’d like it better somewhere familiar.”

“Reginald is the reason why I can’t tell you what you want to learn” Five smiled at the face Ernest made. Five thought back to last night. He was in the middle of his calculations when the elevator clinked down. Ernest had brought him a peace offering of a bowl of fruit, but Five wasn’t won over. He wasn’t sure why Ernest was so interested in him yet, but he had a feeling it had to do with his powers.

“What do you mean?”

“You should ask him about that.” Five smiled at Ernest, leaving him frozen there as his siblings left the store. He wasn’t sure if bringing up his daddy issues would work, but he didn’t wait around to make sure.

They walk back to the motel, only stopping to get lunch from a shawarma shop. Watching them order, Five almost felt bad for what he was going to do. He pushed that feeling aside, focusing instead on how he’s saving them from all the trouble they would bring to themselves. He thought about just how happy they’ll be once they’re back in their own timeline. The sun was still in the sky by the time they got back to their motel. Vanya unlocked the door, but Five didn’t let her step inside. 

“Wait here” he ordered and walked in, checking every nook and cranny he could find. He searched the room like he did the first time he saw it. Checking the closets, drawers, doors and windows, bathroom and more. He let out a breath of relief and nodded at Vanya, letting her come inside.

“What was that about?” Diego asked, setting a plastic bag down on the table while the rest filed into the room. Five shook his head.

“I had to make sure no one stopped by.”

The others seemed to understand, aside from Luther.

“Who would? No one knows we’re here” 

“Luther, are you serious? The only reason we’re even staying at a motel room is that there is a family of super-powered adults living in our house with the man that raised us. You don’t see how someone like them would want to keep us in check? At all?”

“But, shouldn’t we trust them? We just want to go back to our home” 

“I had no idea you were this naive.”

Five gave up on explaining, hoping Allison would fill the idiot in later.

“I’m going to sit and think now. Don’t interrupt me.” Five took one of the seats at the table and dragged it all the way across the room so it would face the door, back to the wall. This way, he could see everything that goes on in the room without his back being exposed. It was the safest position to be in. Five sat down and opened another chocolate bar, this time eating it slowly, enjoying the flavor more. He began conspiring, planning the exact moment his plan would jump into action. After all, he was nothing if not a patient man.

The rest of the Hargeeves stared at him for a bit. Was he really just going to sit there and think? Klaus dramatically fell onto the sofa

“Who even was that guy back at the academy. He thinks I have a lovely voice. You heard him, right Fivey?” Klaus glanced at Five. No response.

“I don’t remember him doing that when we were younger. It’s weird” Vanya spoke in a hushed voice, not wanting Five to overhear. Allison and Klaus agreed. She wasn’t used to seeing Five so still and unmoving, even when they were kids.

“Well, we should talk about the house. Did any of you see something out of place?” Diego started a discussion that lasted several hours. The Hargeeves brought up the memories they had with the place and how the current place was similar or different. Just like that the day was over. The siblings went to their assigned beds and fell asleep, minds easy, trusting that Five would get them home. 

Five needed a lot more than a few days to get them home. He couldn’t spend all his time calculating the way back since he needed to make sure his siblings weren’t going to alter this timeline. He couldn’t spend all his time chaperoning them like kids on a field trip anyway, they could still do something under his careful eye. He can’t bring them back to the academy either, since they might tell the Sparrows something they shouldn’t know. Five knew the only way to keep them out of trouble was to keep them in one singular spot until he could get them back. He knew tying them to one physical location wouldn’t work, Ernest knew that too. His siblings might be idiots, but they were pretty great escapists. He would need to freeze them to the spot. 

Keep them stuck in time.

Five sighed and got up from his chair, stretching all his muscles out. He wasn’t used to creating time loops. It was almost never useful, since it took too much calculation to be executed in a fight and took too much of his energy to be done whenever he wants. The last time he even had enough to attempt a time loop was just before he jumped back to 2019. All his energy went into the portal home.

Five drank a bottle of water, ate another chocolate bar and sat back down. He now had the exact moment he needed to loop.

Blue energy picked up and swirled around him. His body tensed in his chair, and his arms shook with the tension. He reached out, and looped time around him. The room should be trapped in the state he chose for a few weeks, if all things go well. He felt light headed. He needed to get out of here.

Five left the motel, still shaky and light headed. The loop will continue until he falls asleep or runs out of energy, so he would just have to make due without those. When he does eventually pass out, probably on top of his work or over a cup of coffee, he’ll have to go back to his family. Probably spend a day with them outside, then he’ll bring them back to the motel to trap them again. 

He felt like Reginald. 

Afraid of what would happen if things slip out of control.

But unlike his father, he did this for his family’s sake. He did this for the lives of billions of people across two timelines. This doesn’t make him selfish...right?

Five walked into the academy, taking the cursed elevator down.

He wasn’t selfish.

Right?


	3. What do you mean a month?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late birthday to the Hargreeves, the Sparrow Hargreeves, and the rest of the 43 children!

Luther woke up thinking he felt someone lightly touch his chest, but that feeling was quick to go, leaving only hunger behind. He needs to eat more than the average person considering his size and his...condition, so he isn’t exactly new to being hungry. But this hunger felt wrong, it went beyond his own body and deep into his soul. Luther tried to stand, his body straining. How long was he asleep? The analog clock on the wall was useless since the room was too dark for him to see. He didn’t think he could get up to turn on the lights to check. Luther sunk deeper into the sofa, his heavy eyes weighing him down. He could sleep for another five minutes...

“He’s completely out, we should get breakfast without him”

Luther woke up again, this time his head was a little less heavy. Klaus was standing over him, looking ready to run out. Diego was over by the door where Allison and Vanya were standing. 

  
“And he’s awake! Come on big guy, we’re getting food.” Diego urged him. Luther scowled, but didn’t respond. The hunger he felt earlier struck back hard, he needed food now.

On the bus, Luther was absolutely out of it, not taking in any information at all. He had no idea where they were going, what they were doing, or anything in general. The only semi-coherent thoughts floating around in his head were “I’m too hungry to be alive” and “I hope Five doesn’t find us”. He didn’t feel like dealing with all that compact anger when he was this hungry. 

The bus stopped, someone was pulling him up from his seat. He walked with his siblings into an almost empty Griddy’s. From a glance, there were only a handful of people at one table in the very back. They sat at a table and each person ordered a large meal. It seemed like they were all quite hungry, but he didn’t ask. He didn’t want to waste what little energy he had. He had his arms folded on the table, with his head resting on top, almost asleep but not quite there.

Why was he so hungry? He ate more than enough yesterday. Desperate for answers, he tried making a list of what he had the previous day. Donuts and coffee for breakfast, the three pretzels from the mall, and several shawarma for lunch after with the assorted snacks from the market he had when they were chatting counted as dinner. While it was nutritionally lacking, it should have been calorically fulfilling. The physical amounts were filling too. This isn't just low blood sugar or dehydration, it was complete and absolute hunger. Why was he so hungry?

The bus driver stepped into the donut shop sometime after they did, taking a seat with the group in the back, Luther’s eyes followed his steps. He knew better than to stare, but he couldn’t look away. The bus driver laughed out loud, the others shushing him and looking at their table. What was going on? 

The waitress placed a plate in front of Luther, blocking out his vision. He sat up and dug in, food was now the only thing on his mind. Luther kept glancing at the table in the back but the bus driver was completely gone. After a few bites, the group got up and left too. 

“Um… isn't that the Sparrow Academy blazer?” Vanya asked, pointing toward the table in the back.

Luther noticed the blazer that was left behind. It was identical to the ones they wore as children, much larger in size but still the same. It was the same blazer they saw that Not-Ben guy wear when they first landed here. That means Luther just saw the Sparrow Academy talk to a bus driver. Luther stuffed his mouth with eggs. Maybe they all were going somewhere? His dad didn’t take them on field trips, but maybe their dad does.

“I think it is. Shit they were here, weren’t they” Diego looked mad. 

“Maybe they came here before us? Did anyone see a group over there?” Klaus asked

Luther didn’t say anything. As their leader, he felt like he should be the one to ensure their safety. If they knew that the Sparrows were here, they’d freak out and panic, possibly even try to go out and fight them. It was like that one mission dad sent them on when they were kids. 

There was a warehouse full of hostages, guns and henchmen that knew how to use them, but when telling his siblings the plan, Luther didn’t mention the guns. If his siblings knew that several hundred guns were involved, they would insist on going back home rather than following dad’s plan and crawling in through a broken section in the wall. Yes they got shot but no one died. The bullet wounds didn’t even scar! Dad praised his ability to follow the plan and scolded Diego for not stopping the bullets with his knives fast enough. Sure Diego didn’t even look at him for a week, but they got the bad guys and saved innocents, so that’s all that matters.

“I didn’t see anyone back there. It must have been here for a while” Luther supplied.

Diego walked over to the table and analyzed the scene. He took in the state of the table first. The used dishes and leftover food meant they were actually eating here, not just staging it. Diego placed his hand on one of the chairs, noting its warmth. Someone got up from it recently. The waitress would have come over and cleaned it up if they had been gone for a while like Luther suggested. The place was absolutely empty, there was no one else to attend to. Diego looked around the blazer, but nothing seemed out of place. It really did look like someone left it here by accident. Diego grabbed it, slowly lifting the cloth over the chair, just to make sure nothing was going to go off. He walked back to their table, his siblings all had their eyes on him.

  
“I think they just left. It looks like some schmuck actually forgot it.”

Luther listened to Diego as he came up with some sort of plan to bargain the blazer for information. If Luther wasn’t so hungry, he would have come up with the same plan. The others disagreed, Klaus especially.

“Diego, you seriously want to trade a jacket for information? A singular article of clothing… You do realize their daddy-o is still a billionaire, right? They could go out and buy more clothes than they would ever wear.”

“How about we ask questions and give it back without scheming. Make it look casual.”

“That’s a good idea Allison. Luther what do you think?” Vanya turned to him. They all turned to look at Luther as he shoved a slice of toast in his mouth.

“I think it’s a good idea.” He spoke with a fist raised up to his mouth, chewing fast and trying to swallow even faster. Of course Allison would come up with a smart plan. Luther finished up his plate and ordered a second. He needed to make sure he wasn’t hungry when they got there. He didn’t know what would happen. Luther expected an ambush of some sort. Maybe the Sparrows would come out of the shadows to take them down. He needed to be at his best. 

Luther found more bills in his pocket than he remembered there being. Actually, there shouldn’t be any money in there at all. Luther couldn’t think of a single moment someone could have slipped some money in there. He paid for their meals, still confused, and walked out of the shop with his siblings behind him. He’ll ask the others about it later, but for now they should finish dealing with the Academy. 

  
  


It didn’t take long to reach the Academy. 

They stood at the gates for a while, a little more hesitant than they thought they would be. Allison took a breath and pushed on, the others following her trail. She hoped that no one would see them, but the Hargeeves's luck stuck once again. Right as Allison stepped inside, the floating green cube flashed across the foyer. So much for not being seen.

“Hey… you’re Christopher, right?” she smiled. Allison, always the charmer, stuck a conversation with the cube while the other siblings filed in behind her. Christopher didn’t seem hostile, she could probably get a thing or two out of him. Klaus pulled Luther towards the couches, away from Allison, Diego and Vanya following suit.

“Is it exactly the same?” Vanya sat beside Diego as he inspected the emblem on the blazer. 

“No. The colors are switched around. It has different symbols too. Here, look” He held the cloth up for Vanya to see. The yellows and reds were indeed switched, and there was the silhouette of a sparrow rather than an umbrella. 

“This really is a different timeline...” Vanya trailed off, looking down at her lap. She didn’t realize just what it meant until now. She had been hoping that this was all just some joke that she wasn’t in on.

“We should talk to Five,” Diego tried to ease her discomfort. “He knows how to get back, I'm sure.”

“But… it took him decades to find his way back to us… Do you-”

Whatever else Vanya wanted to say was cut off, her eyes fixated ahead of her. Klaus and Luther were standing behind them now. Allsion might have walked in, but Diego didn’t take his eyes off of Reginald to check. 

The old man was walking towards them, seemingly pushing Five in front of him with a hand on his back. Ernest wasn’t too far behind looking smug as usual while Five looked... awful. His skin was lifeless, his eyes were dead, his hair was a rat’s nest and his clothes were hanging off of his body. Diego shot out of his seat, rushing to grab Five out of Reginald’s grip. Five flinched when Diego pulled him into an embrace.

“What did you do to him?” Diego’s words were laced with venom that Reginald completely ignored, his gaze was still on Five.

“Well then Five, I wish you a safe journey. Do not hesitate to come back here should you face any complications within your own timeline.”

Five didn’t respond, escaping Diego’s grip, beckoning the rest over. When they all stood around him in a circle, he grabbed Luther’s arm, waiting for the rest to do the same. Luther didn’t like that. 

“Woah there bud. Listen, I’m not time traveling anywhere with you right now. You look like shit. Last time we all held hands we got stuck in the 60s. You sure you aren’t gonna do that now?”

An angry yell sounded out from behind them. Ernest had left his father’s side and made his way towards them. 

“You assholes! Do you have ANY IDEA what-” his words were cut off by a stern look from Five. Ernest fell to his knees right by Five’s figure.

“No please don’t go with them. You can stay here with us. Please we could be better to you than they ever could!” What? What was that? They expected the Sparrows to fight with them, not to cling to their little brother and beg him to stay.

“I agree with Ernest. We would much rather have you beside us, Five. You are a great ally, we could greatly benefit from having you around.”

Five took a deep, stuttering breath. 

“I’ve told you this a million times,” his voice was hoarse and weak “it will ruin your timeline”

“You’ve been here for a month and nothing’s happened!”

“Well it’s been one hell of a long month”

“Five, what do you mean a month?”

Five’s angry gaze turned sad as he faced Allison.

“Today is only our third day back. How could it have been a month?”

Ernest saw this as an opportunity. 

“You see, Five spent every single day of the past month here. We’re in May 2019 now. You lot were sleeping it off. Can you imagine? Five placed you in a time loop since you couldn’t stay out of trouble on your own”

“I did it for your safety” He looked Allison in the eye, begging her to trust him, but she seemed hurt. The others took a few steps back from him, no longer okay with it. It seemed like Five was closer to the Sparrows than he was to them.

“Look at what they do to you Five. They don’t trust that you kept them safe. They’re mad at you now. I told you it’s better to stay with us.” Ernest stood, holding on to Five’s shoulder. “You deserve a family that understands you. They won’t ever get the extent of what you did for them. You deserve a family that loves you, Five”

The Umbrella Academy got mad. Five’s eyes looked so far away. Like he wasn’t even listening to what was going on.

“We love Five!”

“Yeah, who are you to say we don’t love out little murder gremlin?”

“Of course we love him!”

Reginald loudly scoffed over them all. “Well you see, we here believe that our actions speak louder than our words” He got closer to Five, but his arm was almost sliced off by Diego’s knife.

“What would you know about love? You were a terrible father.”

“I am not the man you claim to know. I barely know your name, although I do distinctly remember your hero complex.”

Diego’s second knife was slicing the air, aiming for Reginald’s throat, but Five’s voice called out.

“Back down, Reginald.” The knife turned back into Diego’s hand. Five wasn’t asking Diego to calm down, he was asking Reginald to back off. Five shook Ernest’s hand off of him.

A few beats of tense silence.

“Listen, Ernest. If you really want me to stay, you should find your timeline version of me. One of the kids that Reginald didn’t take in, that is.”

“Do you think we haven’t tried? Once I was aware of your existence in our timeline, I set out to find you”

“I’ve been in this timeline since you’ve met me in the 60s. You should try once again when I leave.”

“But why?” they had never seen their father this desperate before. He wasn’t exactly begging, but it was close enough

“Reginald, I’ve explained this before. My current consciousness can only exist once per dimensional plane. When this version of me is gone, the other will appear.”

“But it’s been 30 years since your birth! How am I supposed to find you?”

FIve sighed, looking up at the highly decorated ceiling, then somehow looking beyond it. His eyes glazed over for a second before returning to normal. He looked at Reginald again.

“Boulderly Hills”

Ernest wrapped his arms around Five, Reginald on his other side clapping him on the shoulder once before dragging Ernest away. They both spoke in hushed tones about how they needed Five and how they wished they could keep him.

The rest of Five’s siblings stood where they were frozen. They had no idea what just happened. 

“Come on,” Five smiled at them. A nice, soft, real, genuine smile that no one had ever really seen before “Let’s go home”

Five reached out his hand, but no one took it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaand its out! this chapter was a bit tough to write, but I hope you all like it!


	4. Why does he like you so much?

Five stood there, unmoving. Did his own family really not trust him anymore? Even after all what he did for them. All those years he spent isolated. All the blood on his hands. All the times he pushed himself to keep going. All the times he pushed his own self aside. All of that, only for them to stand there, angry at him for keeping them safe. His outstretched hand fell beside him. He sighed. He needed to get them back home, even if they didn’t trust him to.

Memories of the past month floated around Five’s head. Most of his days were spent writing equations on the walls of the stone cold basement. The first week wasn't too bad in hindsight. He wasn’t able to spatial jump at all, considering every single ounce of his energy was gone. He had used too much of it creating the time-loop. He was tense, physically walking around all the time wasn’t his style. It made him feel helpless. But every single time he would try a jump, his hands would then fizzle a sad blue energy that reminded him too much of the apocalypse that he was trying so desperately to stop. As the week went on, he gained his energy back, but still chose not to jump unless absolutely needed, only jumping a total of three times. 

The first time happened when he needed some coffee, about two weeks into this mess. The coffee maker he brought down with him was empty. Five opened the top of the machine, wanting to add the coffee but the tin was completely empty as well. He sighed and walked towards the elevator, waiting for it to come down with his fingers pinching between his eyes. He quickly planned on walking to the store to get some more water, candy bars and coffee, maybe he could even check in on his siblings to make sure they were all good. Both Reginald and Ernest stepped off the elevator. They seemed… happy to say the least.

“Five! How are you, buddy?” Ernest asked, moving to hug Five while the old man took in the state of the walls. Five dogged out of the way, his nerves were already shot from his constant work, he didn’t want anyone touching him to make it worse.

“What do you want?”

Reginald turned towards him, and smiled. “You must know, Five, there are some… shocking differences when it comes to your timeline and my own.” Five looked between the two of them, eyes narrowing.

“Elaborate.”

“We were watching this cool musical on Broadway last night. I wish you came with us, it was amazing to say the least. I can go over the whole thing with you, we were singing the songs on the way back... Anyway, the lead actress looks identical to your sister Allison, but dad said her powers were different.” Ernest looked at the walls as he spoke, almost taking the information in.

“What powers does this woman have?”

“She made the audience laugh and cry. Even dad! Dad never cries, not even when Mom… Anyway, it looked to me like she could project her own emotions onto other people.”

Five knew something might have gone wrong when it came to whatever it was that gave their powers in this timeline, but he didn’t have the time to fully delve into what that could mean. 

“Why are you telling me this? What do you want me to do about that?”

“You see, Five, Ernest here might look like your brother Ben,” Five flinched, Reginald kept going “but his powers are not the same”

“How do you know what Ben’s powers were?”

“I do not know. I know they are different because Ernest here has powers similar to yours.”

To prove it, Ernest jumped away in a flash of green. He landed on the far side of the room then jumped once more, landing right in front of Five.

“Shit” Five mumbled, taking a few surprised steps back. He was cornered, Ernest still walking towards him. He was planning something, Five didn’t like that smug look on his face one bit. Five jumped, landing somewhere upstairs. He barely took a moment to analyze his surroundings before making his way through the house and out the door. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. He needed to make sure his family was still in a loop. Ernest could have woken them up or killed them while he was gone.

Outside the academy, Five walked around the city until he found the bus he was looking for. The second time he jumped was also that same night, when he dove into the stationary bus. He didn’t know how far Ernest could jump, as such, the darkness of the night alone wasn't enough to cover his tracks. He needed to make his way to the motel without the Sparrows catching on. Five inspected the driver once more, something clicked in the back of his head. He smiled.

“Hey Harlan”

The driver greeted him back with the same tip of the hat. Five moved to sit on the always empty bus. It made sense why he was familiar. He looked much older now, almost the same age Five was, but he still had the exact same eyes.

“Why is the bus always empty?” he asked. Five wasn’t used to small talk, he never really had a person to talk to, but Harlan isn’t your average guy. He was roped into the same mess Five was in because of what happened in the sixties. As such, this sort of conversation could lead to some good information.

“I control who I want to drive around.” Harlan responded. Huh. That was… insightful. Five wasn’t used to being giving information this straight forward. He always had to wrangle the details out of the talker. 

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes”

“Do you know who the Sparrow Academy is?” Five saw Harlan smile in the reflection of the rear-view mirror.

“They are my friends.” Five’s shoulders sagged in relief. At least he didn’t have to worry about keeping Harlan out of possible danger. Vanya probably didn’t take back all her powers from Harlan, leaving enough for him to get spotted by Reginald. Oh Vanya would be so happy to see Harlan, at least Five thought so.

Eventually, the bus stopped at the motel. Five thanked Harlan, receiving the same tip of the hat. He jumped right inside his sibling’s room the moment he found the door and… they were okay. They were all okay. They had been asleep for almost two weeks at that point, but they were okay. Five sat at the table, placing his head in his shaking hands. What was he even doing here? He needed to be working on the equation. He shouldn’t be taking a break just because he got scared or was getting a little sleepy. He didn’t deserve sleep, not until they were safe.

Five knew he would crash eventually. He knew that the loop would break before he was ready, as such, he placed some money in Luther’s pocket for them to use when they woke up, just in case. Five wanted to spend the night there, but he couldn’t afford to. Who knows what could happen if he stuck around the loop too long. He left, jumping out for the third time that night. Just as he got to the bus stop, Ernest spotted him.

“Five! There you are. Come on, let’s get you home.” Ernest grabbed his shoulder and jumped, a green glow enclosing them both. Five opened his eyes, finding himself back in the basement. It seemed like Ernest’s powers were a lot stronger than his. Carrying two people across that entire distance was impressive. Five wondered if his powers would have rivaled Ernest’s had he continued to grow and improve under Reginald’s careful eye.

Still in his thoughts, Five thought back to that very morning. He was only a few digits away from finding the exact solution he needed, when he passed out. He found himself somewhere with a little girl who struck a deal with him. He remembered everything that happened there. He also recalled the look of horror Reginald had on his face when he came to. The old man helped him stand, calling Ernest over to help, ushering him to the living room. They told him to rest, to eat, to sleep but all he could hear was the words of his deal going through his ears time and time again.

When he came back to focus, Luther was still the person closest beside him. He reached out to grab his hand. Luther pulled back. 

“We can’t stand around here all day” Five sighed. Or was that closer to a yawn?

“Oh so you want us to just go along our merry little way like you didn’t spend a month making friends with some strangers huh?”

“Luther, do you really think I spent all that time socializing? I’ve spent around seven hundred hours trying to find the safest way to jump back into our dimension”

“Oh yeah? Then why does that guy like you so much? He was completely obsessed with you!” Luther scowled.

Diego was confused. He never really wrapped his head around Five’s time travel terminology, but being in the commission and befriending Herb helped a bit. 

“Wait hold up” Luther’s lecture was interrupted by Diego. “Dimension? Who said anything about dimensions? We just need to get back to before we jumped into the 60s, don’t we?” 

“There is no current point in time where we avoid the apocalypse, the mess we made in the sixties and the Sparrow Academy all together. Time is too linear, any time we go to would have one of these issues. We need to jump into the exact moment in time  _ and _ space that we left from, which no longer exists as a point in time, but rather as a dimensional point.”

They still looked confused. Normally, he would ignore their question and keep going, but he needed them to trust him. Five’s tired mind scrambled for an explanation.

“Let me put it like this for your simpleton brains to understand. You know what sweaters are, correct? You need wool to make a sweater, you know that right? Wool comes from sheep?” 

A few heads nodded, he kept going “Okay good. You know that, that’s good. We in our original 2019 ripped a sweater. A huge important sweater that we can’t possibly fix on our own. We went to the 60s to avoid ripping the sweater, but back there, we killed the sheep who’s wool the sweater was made from and burned down the sheep’s entire farm.”

“I thought Sissy only had chickens and horses” Five ignored the question and kept explaining.

“This 2019 doesn't have our original sweater. It has one that is similar, but not quite right. The fabric is woven the same way, but the wool isn’t from our sheep. We need our own sweater back. We can't go back and unkill the sheep, since we would still be there killing it. We can't stop the sheep from dying since we would be stuck in the sixties twice over, trying to do our own thing. That would continue to loop time and time again until something collapses in the timeline and we disappear or we accidentally kill ourselves for whatever reason. Thus we can only travel back to the original sweater before it ripped, avoiding the first sweater ripping and the sheep’s death. Got it?”

Not even a moment of pause rang out before Diego’s voice filled the air.

“No” 

“FOR FUCKS SAKE JUST TRUST ME DAMN IT” 

''Why don't we just get a briefcase from the Commision? I’m sure Herb won't mind.”

“Damn it Diego, weren’t you listening? There isn't a period of time we can go to, a briefcase got us here!” 

“But wouldn’t the cycle repeat? Like a never ending nightmare?”

“You’re right, Klaus. It would if it were just time, but our consinouses are so absolutely fucked, we can only stabilize it by going to where we would be if we didn't mess with time to begin with. Right back to the point we started from without the impending doom aspect. Anyone else?”

“Wouldn’t we all end up scattered in time like what happened in the sixties?”

Allison’s voice was nice, but her words were too cruel. Five sighed once more “It's because back then, I just took us back to where I was before traveling to dad’s funeral. I didn’t calculate it or plan it beforehand the way I did this time. I won’t mess up this time, I promise.”

“Will I still end the world?”

“No, Vanya. I won’t ever let that happen.”

Vanya looked at him. She took in his tired form and the weight of his words. She knew he was honest, and although his lies stung a bit, that didn’t stop her from trusting him.

“Okay… I trust you” She stepped closer to Five, holding his hand, ignoring the way he almost flinched away. Slowly, but surely, the others followed her example. Each realizing that it’s better to try to go home than stay somewhere you don’t belong.

Vanya was the one to hold Luthor's hand. He still wasn’t completely convinced of Five’s plan. However, as their leader, he couldn’t stay behind as they went on.

A circle of blue energy surrounded the group, and with the blink of an eye, they were gone.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I was really happy yesterday, so I got to finish this chapter faster than I expected. If I could stick to an upload schedule I would, but I can't always guarantee that a chapter will be ready, and I really don't want to disappoint anyone. I'm about 1/4th of the way done with chapter 5 at the moment, if I keep this up, I'll be able to post every even dated day (4th, 6th 8th etc), like I want to. See you in the next one :^)


	5. Do diamonds crack under pressure?

A large blue portal crackled in the sky above the Umbrella Academy. It swirled larger and larger, shaking uncontrollably. It wasn’t stable. It was going to collapse. The large portal disappeared completely leaving nothing but the electrified air behind. Moments later, it showed up again. This time, it was much smaller in size, and there wasn’t just one of it. Several portals swirled around in different rooms of the mansion. 

One must note that these smaller portals used up more energy than just one would. No one would ever willingly open up several portals all around a massive mansion. Hopefully, the person behind these portals is okay...

* * *

Vanya crash landed in the foyer.

She got up when she heard someone’s footsteps come from upstairs, afraid of who it might be. The heavy weight of them made her think it was Luther. A chair scrapped in the dining room, a door slammed open further in the house. She distinctly heard a crash, followed by a string of curses. It was the rest of her siblings, making their noises all around the house.They were home.

A specific memory ran into her head. One of the few times she felt a little more than ordinary. The Umbrella Academy was running around the house, trying to prepare for a mission while she practiced the violin in her room. The song she was playing was faster than what she was used to, but she insisted on getting it right. She dragged her bow across the violin’s strings at a quick pace. 

It was normal at first, but as it went on, it sounded like a heartbeat. Several heart beats. That isn’t how the song goes. A little creeped out, she stopped playing, but the constant beating didn't go away. Little Vanya went to find Grace, the beats in her head getting louder and softer as she passed her siblings across the halls.

She doesn’t remember the rest of that day.

Vanya came back to her senses. She moved towards the stairs, but something poking from under the foyer’s table caught her attention. A leg? She knelt, hands on her knees to see what was under there, and she was met with an unmoving Five. She rushed to pull him out, but the moment she placed her hands on him, he jumped. Five hit his head on the table above him before falling back onto the floor, clutching his head in pain. Vanya was freaking out. She had no idea what to do. She pulled her hands back, trying to explain. 

“Five! You scared me. I was about to go find someone but...” she trailed off, noticing that Five wasn’t paying attention. “Five?” She called, but he didn’t respond. He was somewhat frozen in the same position. A shaky hand reached out, gently landing on the child sized shoulder. Five took in a deep breath, his hand clutching hers firmly. It looked like he didn’t want her going anywhere.

“We should go find the rest” she tried, gently tugging her arm away. Five didn’t let her, holding his face with one hand, and Vanya’s arm with the other. It was an awkward pose for him, Vanya noted, but he didn’t say anything about it

Eventually, Five moved to get up, only managing to avoid hitting the table again with Vanya’s help. Five faced Vanya, his eyes looking her up and down, probably checking for injuries. Vanya told him she was fine.

“Did you say something?” he asked, looking at her face now.

“I said I’m fine. I didn’t crash too hard… what about you?” 

It took Five a few moments to respond.

“I’m okay, but I can’t hear. I think the jump was a bit too intense for me, might have burst my eardrums or something”

“Come on, let's go find the others.”

Vanya barely held on to Five as they walked only touching his elbow. They were home. All of them were home. Or, at least almost all of them. She didn’t want to think about Ben’s absence.

* * *

The courtyard’s ground was a lot harder than Diego expected. 

Then again, he wasn't used to landing this aggressively in the courtyard. He and his siblings didn’t fight out here often, his father preferred they train indoors. Even when they did fight outside, he never fell to the ground hard enough for it to hurt. Even with the pain in his knuckles, he can definitely say it’s better than landing in front of his dad. 

He stood, dusting himself off, looking around the courtyard for a bit. Something tingled at the back of his neck. Someone was watching him. His eyes instantly looked up at the windows, finding Grace’s form looking down at him. Diego smiled. They were back! Really, really back! Diego was about to run inside when he saw Five’s form beside the door. 

Five didn’t exactly stick the landing. He was curled up on his side with his back facing Diego. For a solid second, he considered leaving him there. The bastard had left them to rot in a motel room for an entire month while he was running around, doing his own thing. Diego didn’t entertain that thought for long. He wasn’t that heartless, he thought as he held Five up by his arm. 

“Come on, up you go.” Five was thrashing around, not recognizing Diego at all. “Woah there buddy. It’s me. Your favorite brother”

Five stopped wriggling and looked at Diego. Or at least, he tried to. Five’s eyes seemed unfocused, looking at Diego’s general location, but not directly at him.

“Diego? That’s you, right? Of course it is. Where are you?” Five placed his other hand on top of Diego’s. He then reached up to touch his own face, tracing his fingers around his eyes.

“No blindfold. Why is it so dark in here?” Five muttered.

“Five, we’re out in the courtyard.” Diego watched as Five looked up in a panic.

“If we’re outside, then where are all the stars? Or the moon? Fuck did we make it before Vanya blew it up?” Five was panicking. Diego didn’t know Five could panic.

“Woah woah woah buddy. Calm down, okay? It’s still day time. The sun is still out. We made it back. I think your eyes just aren’t working”

“Well, shit. Might’ve been the jump. Could have caused some eye strain”

“How about we check in with mom. She’ll help you out.”

Diego let Five go and walked inside, slamming the door open. He took a few steps in, then he noticed that Five hadn’t moved from his spot. He called out for Five, about to ask him what was up, but his brain caught up to him. Oh yeah, he can’t see. That meant Diego had to guide him. Diego walked back into the early May weather and looped his arm with Five’s. Five took in a deep breath, almost like he wasn’t able to breathe before. They walked inside again in silence. Grace will make sure Five is okay.

* * *

Allison stumbled into the dining room chairs as she tried to regain her balance. Couldn’t Five plan somewhere better for them to land? Where was he, anyway? Allison didn’t look around to find out. She grabbed the dining chair in front of her and pulled it out, the screeching sound it made wasn’t loud enough to interrupt her thoughts. 

The dining room was one of her favorite rooms around the house. It was well decorated but very few people got to witness how beautiful it was. When she was younger, she liked to imagine herself as an accomplished actress who got to host dinner parties here. She saw herself taking a seat at the head of the table, drink in hand, making a speech about how grateful she was for her supporters, and for her talents. The room would cheer for her, seeing just how great she was. She would then point to things around the room, causing them to ooh and aah at it.

It took a moment to realize that she was back. Actually home. She began planning the best excuse she could come up with what to say to Patrick. In the middle of coming up with a kidnapping story, she wondered what day it was. It caused her to realize that she had no idea what day, month, date or time it was at all. At first, Allison assumed they were back in April, but what if they were in May? That Ernest guy did say that they spent a month sleeping.

Panic rose in her throat. How was she going to explain _that_ to Patrick? Oh hey, sorry I’ve been no-contact for a month. After my father’s death, my time travelling sibling that disappeared when I was a preteen showed up again and needed our help stopping the apocalypse that my only sister started. No worries though, we traveled back to the 1960s to stop it. But then I spent a couple of years there and my brother messed up the way home so we landed in an alternate universe where I can’t tell you anything about it other than the fact that I spent a solid month sleeping.

No rumor could get her out of that situation. She needed to check the date. As she was getting up when she realized that someone was sitting next to her this entire time. Spooked, she fell back down into the chair.

“Five! Don’t scare me like that. Why didn’t you say you were there?”

He didn’t respond. Could Five be asleep? Allison shook him awake, noting the way he jostled around. His hand shot out, keeping her hand there. Allison scrunched her face in confusion, her brother was never happy about physical contact before. 

“Five?” Allison asked.

Her brother looked at her, his mouth forming words but no sound was coming out. 

“I… I can’t hear you.”

Just to be safe, she snapped her fingers next to her ear, ensuring that her own ears weren’t at fault. She looked at Five, who only looked back at her.

“I can hear, but I don’t think you can talk”

* * *

The ceramic tiles below Luther cracked when he landed. It only took him a moment to get up, he was able to withstand the force of the jump without getting harmed. He remembers what pain is, he still takes damage, but it’s far less than it used to be. When Luther first woke up from his coma, he was almost glad that Dad gave him the serum. It made him even stronger, more resilient than he used to be. He became more efficient, more useful. 

Or at least, he thought he would be.

Turns out, Dad didn’t like seeing how different he had become. He didn’t like it to the point where he tricked him into staying on the moon for years. Luther had assumed that his dad did it because he was more capable up there than anyone else could be. But he saw the proof hidden under the floor boards.

He was lucky he was resistant, his powers allowing him to expel damaging forces out. Five wasn’t so lucky. He somehow landed in the bathtub, his torso hanging off the side. Ouch. That looked painful. Luther glanced over him once before he walked out, his long strides making him glide down the hall. 

Surely, Five would get up soon.

After a moment, Luther turned back to check on Five. 

The bathroom was exactly how he left it. Why didn’t Five leave already? Luther needed to make sure Five was with him before finding the others.

  
So, he put the toilet lid down. He sat and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Ok, Five probably wasn’t okay. Luther got up and removed his right hand glove. He didn’t want to do this, but he needed to check Five’s pulse. Although he’d prefer to keep them on, he didn’t want to misread the pulsing of his own fingers against the glove as Five’s.

Five took in a deep breath right as Luther’s giant finger made contact with his neck. Luther sighed in relief. His brother was alive. His brother was breathing. His brother… wasn’t moving.

“We should get out of here” Luther left the bathroom, expecting Five to materialize beside him. A few steps down the hall, Luther noticed that Five wasn’t with him. He went back into the bathroom.

Five was exactly how he left him. Not having moved a millimeter from his spot. Okay, something was definitely off.

“You aren’t getting up. We should go find the others.” Luther stared at Five, who didn’t even look him in the eye. A little more irritated at this point, Luther grabbed Five and hauled him over his broad shoulder. He needed Five around to possibly jump them again in case there was something wrong.

“You think I wanted to dangle around the tub?” Five muttered, “My limbs weren’t responding. It’s like all my nerves disappeared.”

Oh. It’s not that Five didn’t want to leave. It was because he couldn’t move.

That made sense to Luther now.

* * *

  
If Klaus had a dollar for every time he landed after time traveling, he’d have 5 dollars. It wasn’t a lot, but it was just enough for him to get one drink at a shitty bar. There, he would probably trick someone into giving him money so he could start actually forgetting any of this ever happened. 

Their father’s desk must be made out of the world’s strongest wood. It handled Klaus falling onto it with incredible force, and it’s still standing. Klaus rolled off the desk, falling onto some sort of stone on the floor. 

That hurt. He cursed.

He turned over, plucking what seemed to be a diamond from under himself. He couldn’t go to any bar like this. Klaus didn’t think he could make it to the bar downstairs either. Their dear old dad had a sip or two of something fancy up here, right? He’d have to find and drink that. He can’t wait to forget it all.

He wanted to forget a lot of things. His father’s mistreatment, his time spent in the mausoleum, his experiences with ghosts, his time being tortured. However, a voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like his moral compass and dead brother told him why he needed to stay sober. Dave. Dave who showed him how beautiful the world really could be. Dave who showed him that life was worth living. Dave who wasn’t currently alive. Klaus wasn’t usually one to think things through, but if Five really got them back home, then he would be able to see Dave again. His powers would finally work in his favor! He could see Dave again! 

Klaus scrambled off of the floor, pulling the diamond up with him. He saw Five standing at the doorway.  
  
“Fivey! I have a question, do diamonds crack under pressure? Like when step on them? Or crush them? Or fall on them?”

His brother didn’t respond.

“Five-o? You there? Hello~”

Nothing. He didn’t move from his spot as Klaus approached. 

Klaus shook his hand in front of Five’s face. He was afraid to touch him. What is his hand passed through Five’s body? What if his little brother was dead and his ghost was going to haunt him like Ben. Oh no. Ben. He felt so guilty keeping Ben around for so long rather than allowing him to rest. He wished Five doesn’t do the same. He won’t be able to handle it.

He took in a deep breath and, using all of his willpower, he placed his hand on Five’s shoulder.

  
While he felt the material of Five’s blazer, the boy was out of sight. This probably only meant one thing. 

His little brother was dead.

“I’m not dead” a voice sounded directly in front of him. Klaus clutched the cloth harder in panic.

A small hand gripped Klaus’s wrist, repositioning his arm. Little fingers shifted his own around until he felt what was probably a neck. A neck with a pulse. A steady, beating pulse that felt real under his fingers. Phew.

His “not so little” little brother was not dead. 

Just invisible.

That’s a relief.

“I’m here. Not sure why you can’t see me, but I’m here. I didn’t die yet. I’m not a ghost. Stop worrying about that.” Five’s reassuring words were a little cold, but they meant a lot to Klaus.

After a few moments, the panic had completely disappeared from Klaus’s system. He allowed the currently invisible Five to guide him towards the dining room. 

There, Klaus saw Allison sitting one one of the chairs with Five right next to her. Before he could comment, Vanya walked in, awkwardly holding on to Five. Right behind them was Luther with Five slung over his shoulder. Diego, arms looped with Five, came in from the far side of the dining room. They only had one thing to say.

“Shit”

“What’s happening”

“Five and I landed in the foyer. I heard you all around the house so I came to check in on Allison”

“Yeah, Five and I crashed here. I, uh, needed to take a seat”

“Wait, but I was outside with Five. We even saw mom through the window”

“Mom’s here?”

“Well, Five-o and I almost broke a diamond in dad’s office”

“I was in the bathroom down the hall with Five”

“Wait so.. Are there imposter Fives among us? If that’s the case, then I think this is the real Five.”

They began to argue. Each person insisted that they were the ones to have the actual Five. They were all so sure that they would know if they had been tricked. All the Fives just glanced at each other. They knew what was going on. This wasn’t the first time it happened, thought Five really wished this was the last.

Ben stepped into the dining room, his arm casually around the shoulders of a sixth Five. He silently took in the scene, enjoying seeing his siblings alive, together in one room, with him in it, also alive. He missed them all. While he would love a nice, warm reunion, there was a matter of life and death on their hands. He coughed, announcing his presence.

“Hi guys. We need to talk”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my! what happened here?
> 
> also, with this chapter, my fic is 1/4 of the way done. I'm completely shocked and surprised! I can't believe I even got past the first chapter! I hope you continue to enjoy it! :^)
> 
> if you're curious, my tumblr is @demi_chaos  
> https://demi-chaos.tumblr.com/  
> feel free to say hi 👀


	6. What are you lying about with the Horror?

“Ben!”

Klaus thought it was his brother’s ghost at first, but seeing the others react confirmed that their brother was actually here. He was the first to reach Ben, wrapping his arms tightly around him. Diego was a little hesitant. He saw that Ernest guy back at the Sparrow Academy. How could he confirm that this was their actual brother?

“Wait, Klaus, stand back.”

Klaus didn’t move. Diego sighed, facing the possible Ben.

“How do we know you aren’t that Sparrow guy?”

“Sparrow guy? Diego it’s me.”

“Prove it. Now.” Diego readied one of his knives.

“You asked me to… sing a little song for you back in the 60s. I don’t think you’d want me to repeat it in front of an audience.”

Just like that, Diego joined Klaus in the hug. Allison and Vanya weren’t too far behind. Luther engulfed them all in his massive grip.

“Wait, I don’t understand,” Klaus admitted as they pulled away. “I thought you were dead. Like dead dead. Completely gone into the spirit realm. How are you here?”

“Well, I think Five should be the one to explain it.”

At the mention of Five, each sibling turned to find him. Each “version” of Five was frozen in the same place they left him. It was a little creepy, seeing their brother’s tired face frozen on several identical bodies across the room. Luther went to stand behind the Five that he found. He set him down on the dining room chair when he saw Ben.

“We have no idea which Five is the real one” he explained. The other’s agreed, eyeing the other Fives carefully, still standing around Ben, not excited to dive back into the issue at hand.

“You always come to the worst possible conclusions, don’t you?”

Five’s voice came from behind Ben. He stepped aside, showing a Five that was holding on to his lower back. 

“I can explain somethings, just make sure there’s some sort of physical connection between you and the fragments”

“Fragments?”

“Yes, Luther. Fragments. You each found one.”

They obliged slowly making their way back to the Fives they found. The Fives were now animated, looking around, grumbling, sighing, as if they’ve been turned on. They all looked a little mad.

“Did none of them notice that we shut down when they cut the connection?”

“How can we expect them to know? 

“They’re idiots. We shouldn't expect much from them.”

“This is the absolute worst timing. Even fracturing back in the apocalypse was better than this.”

“Okay, okay, enough with the chatter.” Ben’s Five shushed the rest. When he and Ben got to the table, he pulled out a chair for himself with one hand, constantly keeping the other in contact with Ben. He sat and pushed another one out with his foot for Ben to take a seat. The other felt a little touched. He was reminded of the times Klaus helped him feel more alive when he wasn’t. It was the little things that mattered after all.

Five addressed his still standing siblings. “Since you’re all suspicious of the rest of the fragments, I’ll do all the explaining.” They nodded with various degrees of enthusiasm.

“Before you guys came to the Sparrow Academy this morning, I met with someone”

“Who?”

“Ask Klaus. He knows her a little better than the rest of you.”

They all looked at Klaus, who’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline when the words clicked. Their brother just admit that he died! Not only that, but he went on to meet the person in charge, and came back to life as well. Five noticed his brother’s unease, rushing to continue the explanation.

“Anyway, while I was up there, she made me a deal in exchange for Ben.” Five leaned back into the chair a little more. Wait, thats it?

“Hold up, You didn't explain anything, Five” Allison argued. 

“Well, what do you want to know?”

“What sort of deal did you make? You can't just bring someone to life with just your words. It doesn’t work like that.” 

She had tried to bring the dead hostages back to life when they were younger. She had tried to bring Ben back. Allison knew it didn't work first hand. Five knew this too. He tried not to think of all the times he wished his siblings back to life after he begged them to…

“You see-”

“I’ll explain that.” Ben swooped in. “Considering that my death was connected to my powers, rather than an action on my behalf, Five convinced her that this meant it wasn’t my time to die.”

“Wow! What a negotiator!” Klaus laughed. Really? It wasn’t his time to die? That’s the best excuse Ben could come up with? There were more layers to this, because of course there were, but he knew not to press now. Klaus knew he was going to corner his brother later and drag out the truth. Right now, his brothers were back. That’s all that mattered. Speaking of brothers.

“What about Five? What’s wrong with him?”

“It’s complicated.” Ben looked at Five with worry in his eyes.

“Try us” Vanya challenged.

Five took a deep sigh. He didn’t want to explain it all to them, not when he didn’t have all the facts himself, but he had to. He can’t exactly refuse them in this state.

“Well… for starters, make sure you all keep contact with the fragments you found. If they don’t bond to a soul for a period of time, they’ll disappear.”

“Bond to our souls?” 

“Yes, Luther. Bond. Attach. Stick to. Whichever word you like best. Don’t worry, it’s just temporary. It happened because I’ve been Fractured.”

Diego gasped “No way!”

“Yes way.”

“But the Commission said it was only a few pieces! I didn’t expect so many!”

“Well I’m just lucky, aren’t I?” He was trying to sound angry, but his words just came out sad.

“Anyway, we need to go look around the house, make sure there aren't any pieces left behind somewhere. I’m assuming that I’m the base, but I have no solid proof.”

“Base? Base for what?” 

“Base for my own self. Uh… let me think of how to phrase it. When a mug falls and breaks, there’s usually the largest piece that you glue the other parts onto, right? I’m guessing that I’m that piece, the base. The rest are all fragments.”

“Wait, but the Five I found can’t hear. Why is that?” Vanya asked, looking at her Five. She had to fill him in later. Vanya knew how awful it felt to be left out, she didn’t want her brother, or a version of her brother, to be excluded too.

“That’s because when a part breaks, it's usually inverted. Each fragment is represented as a whole with a missing piece rather than it being the piece that fell off. There is more to it, but I’m not sure how else to simplify it” 

Luther looked confused. “Is that all you can tell us?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

Luther brushed off the apology.“What now? We just walk around the house dragging a piece of you around and see if there are any other fragments around?”

“Yes Luther. It’s the only thing we can do at the moment.”

The group separated, taking their respective Fives with them, leaving Klaus and Ben behind.

Klaus tried locking eyes with Ben, but his brother didn’t meet his gaze.

“Benny… I’ve been haunted by your ass for years... know when you’re lying.”

“What? Me? Pssh… no… I didn’t lie about anything at all...”

Klaus kept glaring, ignoring the hand pulling on his own. It seemed like the invisible Five was trying to get him out of this situation. Too bad.

“Ben. Look at me.”

Ben did look at Klaus. Then he looked away as the two broke into laughter. They couldn’t keep a straight face.

“Okay, okay. I did say something that wasn’t the entire truth, but with good reason! I did it for Five.”

“...okay?” Klaus didn't like the sound of this.

“Five told me a lot more than he probably meant to when I saw him. He told me about shit that I don’t think he would have ever told anyone.”

“Well, maybe he had a change of heart? Five can tell us whatever he wants you know.”

“No, Klaus. Like, he told me about stuff he kept secret from us, then told me why he needed to keep it a secret. He answered every single question I asked. Like, remember that time when we were kids, Mom found a plastic bag filled with a ton of different candy wrappers hidden between the floorboards up in the attic?”

“Now that you mention it, I think I remember. We all thought it was you since your room was closest to it. Dad didn't find out until a month later and there were even more wrappers than before. He made us all train hard for a week after that to “burn off the excess calories we’ve ingested as a group” or whatever when no one confessed.”

“Five, can you please tell me who put the wrappers up there?”

Klaus looked at Five.

“I did. It was my secret stash... I kept some candy around for when I couldn't get diner, or when I needed to refuel after training too hard. I never meant to get caught. I don't know how Grace even found the thing.” Five’s voice was low, his hand pinching between his eyes. Klaus’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I think he can’t lie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this one is a little shorter than usual. Let me know if you liked it!


	7. Who are you seeing with the Kraken?

Diego didn’t get a chance to go look for a possible fragment of Five. He didn’t even go any further than the foyer. While the rest began their hunt, he hung back at the edge of the dining room, listening to what Ben and Klaus had to say.   
  
He wondered about those candy bar wrappers for years. 

Memories of that mystery plagued him for years. He didn’t even suspect that it might have been Five until the two in the dining room confirmed it.

Walking away, Diego realized just how absolutely huge the house was. He didn't look forward to checking rooms alone. He felt proud, resourceful even, when he thought to ask Mom for help. She would probably be better at searching for Five than all of them combined, since she had thermal sensors and the like. 

It was definitely for Five’s sake, and not at all his own need to see his mom that led him to walk through the foyer on the way to Mom’s room with Five’s arm looped around his.

However, as he passed the front door, he heard what sounded like a knock. That’s weird. No one they know knocks on their door.

“You heard the door right?”

“I heard it.” Five confirmed, head full of thoughts on who it could be. What if it was the Commision? No, they would have raided the house by now. The windows were still intact so it’s not them. 

The Handler? She was never the knocking type. Five remembered how she stared at him from the other side of the bathroom stall...Aside from that, she was dead.

The Sparrows? Considering this house is an exact replica of their own, they wouldn’t need to knock on the door. They probably knew where the spare key was. The only reason they would knock would be them trying to be friendly. But then again, how would they even get here? Reginald collected the Sparrows only because of what they did in the 60s. 

Reginald? He made it clear to the man that he was not welcome in this dimension, the respectful knock couldn’t have been his. Even with his inventions, this degree of travel was far outside his reach… unless the experiments he had done on Five ended in some meaningful results. Another thought interrupted this one, Reginald failed to replicate a simple spatial jump, there was no way he could travel dimensionally.

Five was sure that it wasn’t Ernest acting against his father either. While he did leave some of his equations and calculations behind, Ernest wasn’t familiar with the exact language he used in his equations. Even with his better power, the jump would be too complicated for him to pull off successfully. 

Diego tried to think of who it could be. The mail? The property appraisers? The tax collectors? The hospital? The cops? The cemetery? The neighbors? The press? No option made much sense beyond the initial question. He didn’t exactly have any clues to go off of. Diego slowly approached the door. He wasn’t going to find out who was there just thinking about it.

All of Diego’s expectations as to who was shattered when he checked the peep hole. He nearly tore the door off of it’s hinges in an attempt to get it open, sweaty fingers fumbling with the knob.

“Lila...” he whispered, heart beating loudly.

“Lila?” Five whispered back, sound barely escaping him.

Five can almost see the face Diego was making. A mix of shock, horror, and a hint of hope. Diego cracked the door open just a bit, talking to their unexpected guest while hiding Five behind him. Five tried to figure out just how Lila found them. He thought that jumping dimensions was way too complicated for the Commission’s technology. He really hoped he wasn’t wrong.

Diego’s eyes were focused on Lila. her hair was a little longer, her clothes a lot cleaner. She had a briefcase in one hand and was knocking with the other.

“Hey, Lila… you found us.”

Lila looked just as shocked to see him as he was to see her. She looked too surprised. It was like she didn’t expect Diego to be the one to open the door, but was happy it was him all the same. 

“Well… that’s not as hard as you expect. Just thought of the lousiest place in the area, and here you are.”

“How are you here? I mean..”

“I get what you’re talking about, the situation is very complicated. Can you imagine? One second I was having a drink at the pub with some buddies of mine and the next they disappeared. I need help. Maybe I could spend the night?”

“Oh uh...” Diego glanced back at Five. “Look, there’s a lot we need to discuss, but I can’t right now. I’m a little busy at the moment”

“Busy… you just got home, yeah? Got some spring cleaning to do?”

“You can say that.” 

Lila stared Diego down. She wasn’t happy with his answer. She really wanted Diego to help her out.

“Well, you’ll be glad to know that while I was hopping around, I learnt a thing or two about you. I know what your father did to you as kids. I’m here because I… I want us to be a family. Like you promised.”

Diego was stunned. Lila wanted to be with them? He offered it to her, but he didn’t actually expect her to agree. 

“Lila, I really want to help you out like I said but I’m a little busy with family stuff right now.” The look on Lila’s face told him it wasn’t the right thing to say.

“Really? Family stuff? I can’t believe I came all the way out here only for you to reject me like this. I trusted you, Diego. I went against my mother for you, you know?”

He felt Five tug on the back of his shirt, Diego didn’t budge. He really wanted to make Lila understand what was going on without telling her directly. Five had other plans. 

The door slammed open, Five stepping out to face Lila. 

“Shut up” he greeted.

“Five, you’re here. Of course you were. I shou-”

“I told you to shut up didn’t I? I’m sure Diego would love to drop everything and run off to play house with you, but he’s busy.”

“Hold on, what’s going on. You aren’t looking me in the eye, you’re not letting go of your brother… what's wrong with you?”

Five weighed his options. He could either tell Lila the truth and guarantee her leaving, or he could try to come up with a lie that may or may not send her off. Considering he can’t exactly gauge her reaction, it won’t be easy to know if she bought it or not. He could feel Diego’s worry.

Sigh…

“I got Fractured.”

“No way”

“We don’t know how many pieces yet...”

Diego kept looking between Lila and Five. Did he really just give it to her straight? Five was never this direct.

“Oh shit... Okay, see ya.” Just like that, she picked up her briefcase and turned around. Diego stared at her as she opened the iron gate ahead of them. 

“Wait, that’s it?” he asked as she waved at them from the street.

“This is way too intimate for me. I’ll be at the motel when this is over!” She waved one last time, smiling and walked away.

“Someone fracturing isn’t exactly a thing you want to witness.” Five pushed the door close, forcing Diego to walk with him.

“Lila isn’t exactly a fresh recruit like you were. She probably saw how awful it was for someone to get fractured first hand.”

“Still, this felt too easy. I was expecting the two of you to go fight or something.”

They walked deeper inside, now back on track. Five faced Diego, their arms looped in the same way they were before.

“She cares about you but doesn’t want to get involved. It’s not too hard to understand.”

“Since when were you the type to let a threat walk away like that?”

“Since you started dating her.”

“Oh really? Well, since when do you care about who I’m dating?”

A knife could have pierced Five’s heart and it would have been less painful than this. 

“I know a lot about your love life Diego. I’m sorry about what happened to Patch.”

Diego stood a little straighter.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. It wasn’t your fault.”

Feelings of sorrow and shame emitted from Diego. Five didn’t know how to handle this. He needed to try and make things a little better for his brother. Losing a loved one is terrible, losing a loved one because your brother got involved with the wrong sort of people is even worse.

“I still owe you an apology. While I can’t say Lila is the best of you, if she makes you happy… I approve of it.”

“Tell me about the whole fracturing business. How does it feel?” Throwing the conversation aside to avoid your discussing your feelings. Diego is definitely a Hargeeves.

“It's a very personal matter.”

“Like, how personal does it get?”

They heard something creak upstairs. 

“I think we should check that out.”

“Fair enough.” Diego nodded, rushing up as fast as he can with Five by his side. 


	8. Are you listening to the White Violin?

Even before splitting from the rest, Vanya felt uneasy.

After the meeting in the dining room was over, Five asked if she could head to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure why, but she agreed nonetheless. She wondered why Five wanted to search the kitchen with her. It wasn’t like Five needed any of their powers to search the house. For the first time in her life, they were all on an even playing field. As a matter of fact, the only thing that made her different from the rest was her small stature. Were they going to search somewhere too small for the rest to fit into? She really hoped Five didn’t force her to check somewhere small and cramped. Even so, Vanya knew that she couldn’t say no if he asked. She just hoped she didn’t have a reaction that was too aggressive.

It turns out, all her worry was for nothing. Five maneuvered her around the kitchen to make a sandwich. A peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. The same one she made for him all those years ago.

“Oh” She whispered as he struggled to grab the marshmallows from the high cabinet. 

They worked together to get them down. Five knelt on the counter with one knee while reaching for the bag with both hands, Vanya held him steady and ensured they kept in contact. She helped him down, smiling. The moment reminded her of the better parts of her childhood, the moments where she felt like she was an actual child rather than an outcast in a group of superheroes. 

While he was setting up the tools he needed for his sandwich, Vanya asked when he learned to read lips.

“I’ve always wanted to eavesdrop on dad when I was a kid. I thought I could catch him saying something that could help us out. Never really got the hang of it until I was recruited by the commission.” They were standing beside each other, Five trying to make his sandwich. 

“Really? They taught you how to do it?” she wanted him to talk more, happy they were bonding, but Five had nothing more to say. He turned to look at her to catch what she said and went back to the task at hand.

“Yes... Now, if I could just get this stupid… lid… off… ”

His voice was low as he trailed off, eyes focused on the jar of peanut butter he was struggling to open. Vanya changed her stance a bit to hold it for him, suddenly becoming really close to one another without planning to. Their legs were almost touching, close enough to sense the others warmth, or lack thereof. The contact threatening to happen between them was a little overwhelming. Vanya didn’t remember ever being this close to him or any of her brothers, actually. 

After catching Allison and Luther too many times, their father had placed strict rules to forbid physical contact between them all. She had seen how her siblings ached for a comforting touch after difficult missions. She had heard them cry out for a form of affection, only to be denied. She knew the only times they were ever in contact with one another was when they were fighting or tending each other's wounds. Maybe her father's teachings are the reason why Five shot away from her like he was electrocuted.

Ashamed, Five looked down, distracting himself with a bite of the sandwich. He wished he could handle physical contact more. This whole fracturing situation sucks, but now he had to add “constantly being touched when he wasn’t ready for it, causing his siblings to worry more than they need to” to the ever growing list of things going wrong for him.

“You can start looking around you know.” He spoke, pushing his shame and irritation aside. 

“Wouldn’t you be better at it?” she asked, searching such a large room felt too much for her. He looked at her then looked around the kitchen. Trying to see if a fragment was here. Of course, he had no such luck.

“Wish I could, but unless the fragment is bonded, I can’t see it. ” Five took a bite of his sandwich. “Don’t worry, it might not be here. Just look wherever you think I could fit.”

Not knowing where exactly to look, Vanya started her search by checking the most clear locations of the room, those being the breakfast chairs and the little seating area on either side. No one was sitting there right now. Okay, the fragment probably wasn’t here then. Still uneasy, she remembered how she found Five beneath the table back in the foyer. Could another Five be stuck under somewhere here too?

Glad she thought of a good possible lead, Vanya checked the table and chairs again. This time she bent ever so slightly to check if he might have landed under the breakfast table or chairs. Nothing. She felt unsatisfied. Was he really not here? What if he was here, struggling to make his way out from under something. She hated being in a small space, she can’t imagine what would happen if Five was actually trapped somewhere. 

Now more frantic, she checked more unusual spaces that her brother could fit in. It didn’t help that the glass around the room was vibrating. It just reminded her of how the little window on her cellar would shake when she pounded on it with her fists. She swung open all the cupboard doors and checked inside. Getting more and more angry with every shaking plate she found.

Overcome with panic, things got a little hazy for Vanya. Did she check under the chairs? What if he was in the basement? She couldn’t hear what Five was saying.

Five helped her up from where she was kneeling under the sink, helping her stand. She didn’t actually believe he was wedged in the space between the cupboard and the floor, but she needed to check. She needed to check. He bent to look at the space Vanya was inspecting. 

“Do you think I’m a rat, Vanya? Actually, scratch that. I don’t think a rat can fit there. A cockroach probably could.” He tried joking, but his sister still wasn’t okay.

He faced her. Her breathing was uneven, her eyes looked far away, her body was shaking. He steadied her as she tumbled, helping her sit with her back against the cupboards. 

Vanya was probably experiencing an anxiety attack. Thankfully, Five knew what to do. He knew how to calm himself down, he hoped the same would work for his sister. He had a decent number of episodes way back in the apocalypse. Dolores often helped him out with them. But now, Dolores was safe in her store, and his sister needed his attention.

He helped Vanya control her breaths, speaking to her with what he assumed was a calm and stable voice. He coached her through it, telling her to breathe in and out with him. He wished he could give her some comforting words the way Dolores did. He really wanted to tell her that she did good, but they got stuck in his throat. He didn’t think the words would help.

After some very tense moments, Vanya’s breath was back to normal.

“I...thank you”

Five didn’t hear her, or see her for that matter.

“Let’s go to your room. I don’t think there’s a fragment here. If there is, then the others could come find it.”

Five held onto Vanya, making sure she was steady as they walked over to her room. 

They ignored Diego as they passed. He wished he could listen into what he had going on, but he seemed busy. Besides, he needed to make sure Vanya was okay before anything else. Five made a note to ask the fragment Diego was with what was going on. 

Vanya’s room was about the size of a closet, Five thought as he closed the door behind them. He always compared it to one when they were younger. The light coming from the window illuminated Vanya’s violin in a warm golden light. Vanya still seemed tense, probably worrying about what happened in the kitchen.

“Play for me” he demanded, looking at the instrument. Vanya didn’t respond. Or did she? It’s not like he could hear her.

When she didn’t pick it up, Five gently grasped the violin. He handed it to her, looking her directly in her eyes. She was shy, Five could feel it.

“It’ll be like I’m not even here. I still can’t hear, so I won’t hear any of the mistakes you think you’ll make.”

He stood behind her, faking his casual demeanor while he was cursing himself out on the inside. He watched with careful eyes as she took her place at the music stand by the end of the bed. 

Vanya messed with the delicate instrument for a bit, probably delaying tuning it. But then, he felt it. The solid, grounding emotion deep in his gut. He knew Vanya had an emotional reaction to her music, but never had any proof. This song was calm, alluring and soft. 

Being a fragment of a person that currently couldn’t hear, Five didn’t know what his sister was playing. But he could feel the emotions she associated with it as they were projected to him like they were his own. The feelings surprised him.

Fingers were tapping on Vanya’s back like a metronome. Steady. Reliable. Vanya played like she’s never played before. 

That is, until something made a noise upstairs.

Vanya stopped her playing, informing Five of what she heard. 

“We should check it out,” she set her violin down. She left the room with a determination Five had only seen once before. It seemed like letting some of her emotions out while playing helped rid her of the fear she had, replacing it with a confidence he didn’t know she possessed.

Five nodded, walking behind her, trusting her lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank my friend the-aro-ace-arrow-ace on tumblr for helping me out with the chapter!
> 
> I would also like to thank those of you who left kudos or comments, it means so much to me.
> 
> I'll see you all in the next one!


	9. How did you walk with Space Boy?

Luther could barely feel Five’s weight in his arms as he walked around the house. He was probably grumbling something about not wanting to be carried around like a bride all the time, but Luther didn’t pay too much attention to what he said.

The so-called leader didn’t want them all to split up, but each person went their own way before he could stop them. It made him feel insulted. Yeah he hasn’t been the best leader recently, but they could at least wait to hear what he had to say. Maybe that’s why Luther didn’t want to listen to Five’s plan.

“Go search through Reginald’s office. No one else will be up there and we need to cover as much ground as possible.”

“Last time I went looking around there, I found out that the past four years of my life were a waste.”

“You’re still hung up on that?”

Luther didn’t respond. He didn’t need to explain himself.

“...fine. Look wherever you want. You’ll end up going there anyway.”

  
  


Luther didn’t spend too long looking around the very empty hallways, it was clear that no one was around. Five was right, if there was one place he should look around in, it had to be dad’s office. His steady pace came to a stop when he passed by a mirror. His reflection almost seemed to mock him, standing there with his giant arms and stupid coat. He wished he could wear the uniform like Five could. Five didn’t look out of place wearing it, even when they were outside the Academy.

He was a little more than disgusted with his reflection. 

Five was looking into his own reflection too. He felt the disgust Luther was feeling, and felt it for himself.

“It’s weird looking in the mirror and not seeing who you actually are.” 

Luther kept walking, ignoring his brother and the desire to smash the mirror into pieces. 

“Being fractured in this prepubescent form is very different from being fractured as my regular self.”

“This happened to you before?” Luther’s pace didn’t change.

“Yes, several times actually. Never this many pieces. I was able to get it over with on my own. No one was around to interrupt. It's odd, fracturing like this. I feel so… weak.”

A response tumbled out of Luther’s mouth before he could really process or stop it.

“I feel the same, but the opposite...uh...”

Five didn’t react.

“It’s just… I’m stronger than I was before Dad gave me the serum. I didn’t notice it right away. Up on the moon, I didn’t feel this heavy. The gravity is different. It’s why I didn’t beg dad to send me back down. It was like I was meant to be up there.”

“You don’t belong on the moon, Luther.”

“Where do I belong then?”

“With us, stupid. Here.” With your family, he didn’t add. Maybe he should have, since Luther didn’t get what he ment.

“I don’t fit in on Earth. I’m abnormal. I bump into tables, chairs and corners of doors, I can’t find clothes that fit me right, I don’t feel satisfied when I eat regular meals. I can’t leave the house without feeling everyone’s eyes on me. That’s not normal.”

“You’re dumber than I thought.” Five muttered. “You're just describing the experiences of being big. At least a million people in this country alone could relate to your struggles. It’s not as out there as you thought.”

“Well it's not only that, okay? There is no way for me to go back to my normal self. Dad changed my DNA. I’ll always be a freak.”

Ah, he almost forgot about that. Five recalled when they needed to give Allison a blood transfusion, but Pogo said Luther’s blood wouldn’t be okay.

“You aren’t the only one”

“Oh yeah? Do you have any genetically modified friends I don’t know about?”

“No, but you have a genetically modified sibling.”

“What are you even talking about, Five?”

Five sighed as they passed the office. Luther didn’t want to go with Five’s plan, even if he didn’t have a different one in mind. He didn’t want to bring this up, but he needed Luther to actually listen to him.

“I’m talking about myself.”

“Dad didn’t change your DNA.”

“Maybe not, but someone else has.”

Luther stopped in his tracks. Five wasn’t looking him in the eye.

“I… Back when… The thing is... ” Five took in a deep breath and started again. He needed Luther to trust him. Come on Five. Just spit it out. It’s not like it matters all that much. “The Commission needed me. They saw what I was capable of, but they had to change a few things before they could use me. It’s why they altered my DNA with a… blend, you can say.”

Luther nodded along, more focused than he was just moments ago.

“What was it?”

“Well to put it simply, it was a mix of every single killer’s DNA.”

Silence.

“Every… what?”

“They needed my success rate to be 100%. They couldn’t risk it. I had to be as efficient as can be. It gave me skills that aren’t my own.”

The way Five laid it out really convinced Luther, the only thing he didn’t believe was that Five was actually telling him all this. 

“The worst part is that I don’t remember much of it. I don’t know just how they did it, but it did include having all my organs out on the table at one point.”

“Is your DNA still...”

“If you’re worrying about me going on a rampage and killing you all, don’t.” 

I’d never do that to you, he wanted to say. You’re my family, the only thing that has kept me going. The only reason I tried so hard to get out of the apocalypse is to make sure you all don’t die in it. The only reason I haven’t tried to end my suffering was to make sure you all don’t suffer. The main reason. My only reason.

But of course, Five couldn’t tell his brother this, he could never be this vulnerable in front of Luther. It would take a lot more trust on Five’s behalf to even consider letting all this out. So he said the next best thing.

“I’m done with killing. For good.”

“Oh. That’s good to hear...” Luther trailed off, processing what he was just told. He turned and walked back to the office. Five bit back a retort. Was that all it took?

No one was in the office.

“Well, at least we gave it a shot. We can never be too careful.” Luther said.

Now that he was here, he didn’t want to leave.

When Five suggested coming here, he was honestly afraid of what he might find. His mind couldn’t supply what that might be exactly, but it wasn’t very encouraging. But now that he was here, he wanted to explore.

He shifted Five so that he was hanging off of one shoulder, ignoring the string of questions that followed. Feeling giddy, he began rummaging through the desk, making sure to open every single compartment he could find.

“What’s going on? Luther what is it? Do you see anything?”

“I’m just looking...”

“For what? I’m not a cockroach you know, I won’t fit in a desk drawer.”

“I’m going through dad’s stuff. I never got to before.”

He held a decent amount of respect for his father before. He blindly followed his lead, not taking a moment to stop and think like the rest of his siblings seemingly had. Now that his eyes were open, he wanted to do what he always wanted to. 

He was going to look into just what was in all those drawers. 

He hated seeing them everywhere, sitting there, begging to be opened. It always bugged him. What could possibly be in them all? Luther was going to find out.

“You can go through it later. It’s not going anywhere.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

“You are a complete and absolute idiot. If you don’t find my fragments soon, I’ll cease to exist.”

Luther stopped fumbling with the one drawer that won't open. It was right in the middle of the desk, possibly holding the most important thing his father ever had. He really really wanted to open it, but Five’s life was currently on the line. He’ll come back to the drawers later.

“Since when?”

“Since always, asshole. The other Five literally explained this all in the dining room. Weren’t you listening?”

“I was, but I don’t get it.”

“Luther, we don’t have time to go over it all.”

“Explain it. We were bonding quite well out in the hallway.”

“Funny how you think discussing our gene alteration counts as bonding.”

“What if we were like twins? That could explain why our genes needed to change?”

A moment of silence. Five snickered.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in awhile. Sounds like you just pulled it out of your ass to make us look closer to one another than we actually are.”

They left the office, somehow feeling better than when they walked in.

However, their good mood was short-lived. A distinct noise sounded from somewhere above them.

“What was that?” Five asked.

“It came from the 3rd floor. I think I know what the sound was...” A look flashed in Luther’s eyes. He seemed both hopeful and afraid. “I never expected to hear it.”

Luther ran with Five on his shoulder to the source of the noise, unsure of what he would find waiting for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's out! I hope you all like it! I'm doing surprisingly well with the "even day" uploads.
> 
> As always, I ask you to please leave a comment or a kudo if you like it! They seriously have become my daily intake of serotonin at this point, and they make my day infinitely better!


	10. What did you talk about with the Rumor?

Allison walked, no idea where she was heading. She let her feet guide her through the never ending hallways of their house. It was unsettling, being around such a quiet Five. 

At first, she thought it might be good. She would finally be able talk to him without dealing with his mean retorts. She could tell him whatever was on her mind and he wouldn’t be able to stop her.

“So… how was your time with the Sparrow Academy? You had fun I imagine.”

Five only rolled his eyes in response.

“I was really mad at you Five. We were all so hungry when we woke up, then we found out that we lost an entire month of our lives. You could have at least told us about it first.”

Five shot her a look, one eyebrow raised. Allison knew what he ment. Looks like it was going to take more than losing the ability to speak for Five to stop being snarky.

“Okay fine, we weren’t going to agree because it’s a stupid plan anyway. Look at what good it did us. You’re all in pieces, and I might not even think about seeing Claire again. An entire month with no communication is against the agreement for sure. I’ll be lucky if I can even call myself her mother after this.”

Five shook his head, tugging on her arm. She followed him all the way into his bedroom. Five’s eyes were looking around. He dragged her to the window, where a box of chalk rested on the window sill. He grabbed it, ripping it open with his teeth, and pulled one white stick. He cleaned a small section of the wall with his sleeve and wrote down the date. 

“It’s April?”

He nodded, almost placing the chalk back down, before raising it up to write again. Allison waited, watching as his rushed handwriting covered the wall. Five was writing a list for her. 

“1) Claire is fine. 2) No time was lost + hours. 3) Need to find fragments”

“What do you mean by plus hours?”

Five took a deep breath, writing again. He drew an arrow from the list to a different section of the wall, erasing the equations that were there to make space for what he had to say. 

“We are back before Vanya caused moon explosion.”

“We’re back on that exact day?”

Five nodded once again.

“Huh...” Some of Allison’s fears washed away. She could give Patrick and the therapist the watered down version of events when they ask. She could see Claire again.

The piece of chalk was raised to the wall once more, Five’s left sleeve was now completely covered in chalk dust. Allison wondered why Five didn’t just use the chalkboard eraser that was right there beside them. Was he doing this to be dramatic? Or because he didn’t want to stop holding Allison’s hand? It was probably the latter.

“Can you search for me? Look a-”

“Search for you? You’re right here Five.” she joked, pretending not to understand him. She laughed at his troubled face, stopping him from ruining his blazer’s sleeve even more.

“Don’t worry, I'll keep my eyes peeled.”

He went back to writing, finishing the sentence he started. “Look around the bedrooms. No one is checking there.”

“Okay, got it Five. Do I start here?” A nod. Well, looks like she’s back on track.

With his approval, Allison opened the door to Five’s closet. She was a little giddy since she never got to snoop around Five’s room before. As kids, she didn’t bother trying to look around since Five never had anything cool going on. Even Vanya did something interesting every now and then. Turns out her sister listened to more than just classical music. But Five? The most out-there thing he ever hid in his room was a book from the library after dad told him not to. At least, that’s what Allison thought. 

  
  


The closet was empty, with nothing more than a few uniforms and pajamas waiting to be worn, so she turned to the bed. Allison knelt by it, her head poking under the sheets. “Why do you have so many boxes under your bed?” She straightened herself back up, looking at her brother.

Five’s head turned away, but not before Allison caught a glimpse of his blush. He was writing on the wall again.

“You should be looking for my fragments.” Allison chuckled and went to look again.

“Well, the only thing here is I’d say around 20 donut boxes. They look like the ones from Griddy’s. There’s also a few boxes that say something about caramel or chocolate on the side. But nothing that looks like you.” 

Something was between all the boxes, she noticed the shadow that looked a little too lumpy to be a box. She crawled under the bed some more to try to figure out what it was. “Ooh there’s something else here.” She reached for it, but the boxes were in her way. Allison pushed them aside, “Let me just-” Five pinched Allison’s leg.

“Hey!” 

She crawled back out, Five shaking his head as he helped her stand.

“I was about to grab something cool, Five. Why did you butt in?” She dusted her clothes off as Five reached for the chalk again.

“Not here. No time to mess around. Go look in your room.” After a moment, he added.“Please”

“Fine, but you better let me come take a look later.”

Allison silently walked to her room, Five walking by her side. As time passed, his silence became unnerving.

“I should try rumoring you into speaking.”

Five shook his head vigorously, but Allison didn't stop to look.

“It could work, you never know.”

More head shaking. She saw Five make a slicing motion at his throat from the corner of her eye.

“Your neck will snap? I have a lot more control over my powers than you think.”

A shake. Nope. He repeated the movement again, pointing directly at his throat, then slicing.

“Your throat hurts? We’ll go get you some-”

Five gripped Allison’s shoulders, stopping her mid step. Now facing each other, he made the movement again, his hand going across once before stopping for a moment, hoping that she understood. 

He pointed to Allison. He made the movement, then pointed to Allison’s neck.

“Oh.”

Five nodded, his hand shaking as he grabbed her own.

“Your throat got...” Her hand went up to hold her throat. “...sliced?”

Her hand made the slicing motion. The smooth motion resembling how Vanya’s bow sliced through the air when…

Allison gripped her throat harder. She forgave Vanya, but she couldn’t forget the pain she went through. The helplessness. Being voiceless was traumatic for someone who was used to talking their way through everything.

The door closed softly behind the two, Five dragging an unfocused Allison into her room. He helped her sit on her bed, not know what else to do. He only wanted to tell her that his vocal cords weren’t working, he didn’t expect her to react so aggressively. 

He felt stupid, of reminding his sister of the time she almost died would cause her to cry. He could do little more than just sit beside her but it’s not like he could say anything to help.

But was there something he could do? Five tried thinking of how to comfort someone when they were crying. While he didn’t have much, or any, experience in that department, he remembered how Grace would react when Diego cried. He’s seen it many times.

Diego would come from one of their absolutely dreadful missions or training sessions and head straight to Grace’s charging station. He’d wait for her to recognize him, then his tears would fall. Diego was always a loud and ugly crier. Reginald never heard any of it since Diego’s wails were muffled by the cloth of Grace’s dress. He remembered how her hand would gently pat his back. Ah that’s it. Patting should help, right?

Allison was pulled back to reality when she felt a little hand patting her back. It was shocking enough for her to stop crying. Five didn’t look at her or stop. He just kept up his awkward patting. It was reassuring, as odd as it was. A reminder that she made it through. 

Eventually Allison gathered herself up. She took Five’s hand in her own. She smiled at him. 

“Thanks Five.”

Five just nodded. His brain was struggling to think of a response. A different memory flashed in his head. He was on a mission in the 80s. The TV was playing a sign language class, his target following along with the instructions. The VHS was stuck, repeating the same clip over and over. His target got up to fix it, Five readied his aim. The player was smacked a few times, but the scene hadn’t changed. Five took his shot when his target’s head alligend just right. He could make out what was on TV even with all the blood covering the screen. The same few lines were repeating over and over. 

“The sign of the horns, or the rock and roll sign actually has a pleasant meaning in sign language. If you extend the pointer, pinky and thumb while tucking the rest, the meaning becomes I love you!”

His hand shifted, his fingers moving on their own. 

I love you.

Before Allison could notice, a sound rang from upstairs. Allison stood, helping Five up as well.

“That’s weird. Did you see anyone go upstairs?” Five shrugged, allowing his unoccupied hand to fall to his side. He didn’t have the guts to show her the sign again.

“I think we should check it out just in case.”

And just like that, they left. The unspoken sign was still hanging in the air.

I love you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FIC IS OFFICIALLY HALF OVER NOW!
> 
> I'm honestly very surprised. I never got to this point in a fic before. I'd like to thank every one that gave me kudos, left a comment or just got this far into it.
> 
> I think we're close enough for me to let you all know that I archive every single email I get about a kudo or comment on this fic. I don't swipe the email notification from my phone, even. When I feel down or tired, I look at the notification telling me that someone left a kudo or a comment and it's enough for my worries to wash away. 
> 
> Sincerely, thank you all. I hope you all like it!


	11. What’s it like being a soul around the Seance?

Klaus didn’t want to leave Ben. Aside from the fact that he wasn’t used to not having his dead companion around, he had a feeling that something would go wrong. Call that his ghost intuition. Maybe that’s why he didn’t stop talking to Five as they walked to the bar.

“Can you imagine? I was just going into the store when the shopkeeper got mad at me and said I was a thief. It was before I even stole anything!”

Klaus didn’t bother looking for a fragment. He wanted to kick back and relax, maybe even have a drink or two. 

“Don’t drink Klaus.” Five spoke, sounding almost like Ben.

“Why not?”

“You have better things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Finding one of my fragments maybe?”

Klaus laughed it off.

“Buddy, it's better to leave the man-hunt to the others. We should take this chance to take off the edge?”

They got to the bar, Klaus taking a seat and reaching over the counter to make himself a nice little cocktail of whatever he could get his hands on. Five hovered beside him, his right hand on his brother’s left shoulder. He didn’t want Klaus to drink. Five noticed something he didn’t remember seeing before.

“You’re left handed?”

Klaus paused mid pour, caught off guard by the innocent question. If he was still haunted by Ben, there wouldn’t have been a question, just a mess of too many drinks on the ground. This isn’t Ben, Klaus had to remind himself. It’s Five. He is being haunted by Five, who isn’t dead.

“Uh yeah I am. You didn’t know?”

“I wouldn't have asked if I knew.”

“Are you?”

“Are you asking if I’m left handed too?”

“Yeah. I don’t remember which of your hands was dominant.”

“That’s the weirdest way to phrase the question.”

“Is it? I could have said which of your hands is the top.”

Five just gave him an odd look, moving his free hand around.

“They can both be on top, I can still move them both.”

Klaus laughed, Five still staring at his left hand, wondering how it could be the top. What makes a hand worthy of being considered a top hand?

“To answer your question, I’m left handed.”

Klaus gasped. “No way! Me too! Come on lefty we have much to discuss.”

The new topic distracted Klaus from his drink, leaving it on the bar as he dragged Five towards the couch. He sat his brother down on one end and laid in his lap. It was something he had done many times with Ben, even before he could make Ben physical. Ben liked it. It made him feel real. 

His head also rested in Dave’s lap. They spent many nights in Vietnam like this. Just happy with being close to one another, intimate. Klaus closed his eyes and remembered how it felt to have Dave’s hand stroking his hair as they both looked up to the stars. Klaus sighed, his heart was both full and empty. Why was it that he could only be comforted by dead people?

“What are we doing?” Five asked. While he couldn't exactly feel the weight of Klaus’s head on his legs, it was still odd having his brother this close to him. Klaus didn’t open his eyes.

“We’re vibing Fivey. You joined the official Hargreeves lefty club. I was the only member for the past 30 years!”

“And what exactly do we do in this “lefty” club of yours?”

“Well, we talk about how being left handed sucks of course. I’ll start. Don’t you hate it when you’re writing something and then it smudges because your hand gets in the way?”

Five snorted. “I don’t smudge my writing. I did struggle with opening cans however. I found one rusty can opener back in the apocalypse, but it turns out hitting the tin with a sharp rock works better.”

Klaus couldn’t relate at all. He doesn’t remember the last time he even looked at canned food, much less a can opener. Still, he didn’t want to crush his brother’s spirits, not when he finally started to open up. He needed to say something, to compile all his wisdom into a phrase that will make Five feel better about being left handed and about being stuck in a wasteland for years on end.

“Can openers suck.”

Five chuckled.

“You know what else sucks? Those anti-theft tags! Especially the ones that never stop beeping.”

“Are you sure that's a left handed problem?”

“Well it's inconvenient for me and I’m a lefty, so it is.”

The conversation felt absurd, but for some odd reason, Five went along with it. Klaus wasn’t in the mood to look for his fragments, so be it. 

“You can open those pretty easily with a nice strong magnet.”

“You stole before?” Klaus’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Is it considered stealing if no one was around to watch it be stolen?”

“Fair enough.”

“You know, one lefty issue that comes to my mind is all the statistics.”

“Wait statistics? What sort of numbers are you thinking, bud?”

“I read a book once about left handed health risks, turns out left handed individuals are at an increased risk of developing mental health issues and tend to have more dramatic emotions than right handed people. They also tend to enjoy alcohol more so than right handed people.”

“I’m sensing an objection here.”

“The studies could be flawed, there are many different factors that go into reacherching this type of behavior. It isn’t easy to pin any of these attributes on being left handed.”

“Huh… now that you mention it that does make sense.”

They kept talking, discussing a few more points that are changed by being left handed. After a while of such conversation, Klaus had to ask.

“You aren’t the actual Five, right?”

“I am Five. I have all my thoughts and memories.”

“Then why couldn't the others see you?”

“That’s because I got fragmented.”

“Yeah yeah you’re a broken mug and all that, but which piece are you?”

“I’m not exactly a fragment like the others are. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t have seen me if your powers were different. Rather than embodying a sense, I am a complete and separate essence.”

“You said words but none of them mean anything.”

“Let me put it this way, I’m not a part of the mug. I’m the coffee inside it.”

“Wait so you’re… what exactly?”

“I’m a soul.”

“...”

“I’m not dead.”

“...”

“My soul doesn’t usually split when this happens. I think I was pretty stressed out.”

“Well… let's go look for the rest of you then.” Klaus tumbled off the couch, stopping the contact between him and his brother. Five wasn’t affected. As a matter of fact, he didn’t turn invisible like the first time around.

“Why can I still see you?”

“I’m a soul, an alive ghost if you will.”

Klaus looked a little sheepish. “Guess I should be a little more careful around you.”

“I'm in the worst possible state I have ever been. There’s very little worse that could happen than this” 

“Like what?”

“Like someone finding my body and taking me out”

“But isn't your body with Ben?”

“That would probably be my persona. He was honest as ever, he lost the ability to lie.”

“Why didn’t he say so?”

“I’m pretty sure he told you that he wasn’t sure. None of that matters right now anyway. As long as I reunite with my body soon, I’ll be fine.”

Klaus’s hand glowed blue when he reached out to pat Five’s shoulder. He was using his powers without realizing it.

“You’re getting better at manifesting.”

“Oh, danke.”

“You can try summoning someone if you want. You’re strong enough and sober enough to do it.”

“As much as I’d love to try it now, I don’t want to risk anything happening to you.”

Five’s face scrunched up.

“What would happen to me?”

“You know, you’re a ghost now,”

“I’m still alive” Five interrupted, but Klaus kept going.

“You’re prime bait for the other ghosts who aren’t as nice as you are. Since you still have life in you, they’ll crowd you and get you to pay attention to them.”

Five looked around, believing Klaus but not wanting his words to be true. “Well, I don’t see any ghosts here. Shouldn’t that be a good sign?”

“It’s not exactly prime ghost time, but there are a few wanderers if you look hard enough.”

Five looked at where Klaus was pointing. There was a man looking at his hands and making gestures sitting at the bar. There was also a bartender cleaning out Klaus’s forgotten drink. 

“Are you stopping them from getting too close?”

“Nah, they don’t want to get close to you.”

“So they’re…”

“Some people you killed, yes. I was expecting more, but it looks like some of them moved on.”

Five looked at the man again. He was the guy learning sign language back in the 80s. Five felt a little sick, he never had to deal with what happened after the mission was over. He wanted to go over and apologize, he needed to explain why the man’s death was for a greater cause, but Klaus’s hand was firm on his shoulder.

“Ah, I don’t think talking to them right now would be a good idea. Some ghosts are super vengeful, especially when they haven’t had a few centuries to deal with their pain. There was this one guy who-”

A noise from upstairs caught their attention, stopping Klaus mid sentence.

“Come on.” He grabbed Five and ran towards the stairs, the partial ghost struggling to keep up.

“What was that?” 

“Remember the candy wrapper thing we talked with Ben about?”

“Yeah, the honest Five told you it was him.”

“We didn’t know that when we were kids. Diego thought it was a thief who broke in and left garbage as their signature. He told us all about it.” They made it to the second floor in record time, rushing to make it to the third only stopping to take a breath.

“That’s stupid.”

“You should tell him yourself. He ended up rigging that exact floorboard so it squeaks in a specific pitch that’s different from any other. A trap. No one moved it or stepped on it since we knew what it would do. Not even Mom or Dad. We were all hoping we could catch whoever did it again.”

“It was me. Why don’t I remember any of this?”

“We only did it after you left. I don’t think Vanny wrote about it.”

“All of you know about it?”

“Yep.”

“So who made it creak?”

“We’ll find out.”

The stairs creaked, two footsteps sounded out. Klaus and Five ducked into the first room they could. If this was an intruder, they shouldn’t risk being seen. There was little Klaus could do other than sit and wait for them to pass.

He really hoped someone else heard the sounds too.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm I wonder who that could be? Muahahahaha!!
> 
> Welcome to the second half of this fic! Feel free to leave a comment or kudo if you liked it! 
> 
> I've been surprisingly consistent when it comes to updating this fic, so I'll see you all in 2 days!


	12. What happened to the Boy?

Five regretted jumping through the portal. He knew he wasn’t ready. He knew jumping through something as complex as a dimension would strain his body even if he were in perfect health. He knew, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to stay with Reginald and his Sparrows for a second longer and now, he had to pay the price.

A deep and terrible pain coursed through his veins. His entire being was completely destroyed and he now had to assess the damage. He could feel something missing from his chest, a cold feeling where there was usually warmth. That was probably where his soul was supposed to be. He tried opening his eyes, but he couldn’t see anything. He didn’t hear the usual static background noise, and when he tried pushing himself up, his arms didn’t cooperate. As a last resort, he tried calling out for help, but he couldn’t feel his throat move. Damn it. No soul, sight, movement, hearing or speech. He could be losing more but hasn’t figured it out yet.

Since he was out for the count, it was up to the same people responsible for setting two apocalypses in motion to stop his suffering and return him back to an almost healthy state. 

He would have laughed if he could.

Had it been up to him, would have gotten up and put all his pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle that’s been played too many times. The pieces fit, but they’re loose and flimsy, more so than before. They were more prone to falling off. He hates that analogy, but hey, he hates himself too. This wouldn’t have happened if he were alone, if this happened in the apocalypse, if he didn’t lose his movement, if he rested before getting them all here, if he wasn’t in a rush to leave, if he spent more time figuring out the equation, if he didn’t work himself to literal death, if he trusted his siblings to help, if he trusted them to stay safe, if he used Ernest’s help when he offered, if he trusted his father more, if he wasn’t such an ass. If. If only.

Huh, Five didn’t usually let himself be this self deprecating, maybe he lost his persona too.

Now that his family was involved, his fragments have probably bonded to their souls, keeping themselves from disappearing into nothing with his siblings’ energy. It meant that each person that had one piece of him had to find him and give him his own fragment back.

Five was pretty much screwed.

Since there was literally nothing else he could do, he retreated into his head. He did this very often back in the apocalypse, or at least Dolores said he did. She never liked it when he stayed there for too long. Once he was in there, time became a little hazy. 

His mind wandered to the first time he got fractured. Back when he was a young and stupid child that still wholeheartedly believed that the man that took them in cared for them as people. Hah. It didn’t take long to learn that Reginald only saw them for their powers. 

The man was watching him train one fateful day, and little Number Five Hargeeves really wanted to make his father see just how great he was, how useful he could be. He had jumped further than he ever had at that point, forcing his young body to reach his limits, and kept pushing for more. He only got split into two parts, but seeing an extra version of him freaked Reginald too much. He didn’t allow Five to use any aspect of his powers for a week under the pretense of “regaining his energy” and “ensuring his health was no longer at risk”. 

With nothing else to do, Five learned how to be a little more attentive. He caught on to the actual reason why Reginald didn’t want Five to split. The man didn't understand what happened and assumed that Five had multiplied. That would be tough to control, and Reginald loved his control. Five hated his father for a lot of things, but he was thankful the old man was at least careful not to fracture him again. 

That was only the first time, but it taught Five a good lesson in his powers. He learned when to recognize that enough was enough, and what the consequences were when he doesn’t listen to his body’s demands.

That lesson wasn’t enough to keep him from trying again, and that’s when he got Fractured in the apocalypse. He had tried going back to his actual year, or to a time where the world wasn’t in shambles. He ran himself into the ground that day. He struggled to find his fragments without his vision, but he managed. He always manages, even if he had to cry himself to sleep in Dolores’s arms afterward.

Decades later, the Commission had a name for the event Five had gone through. They called it Fracturing. 

“A healthy agent doesn’t face any complications while time-travelling.” they explained. “Only those unaccustomed to the process might feel exceptional pressure on their abdomen, but that’s where the side effects end.” 

They only brought up the whole Fracturing situation after he witnessed it first hand. Some unlucky newbie got a malfunctioning briefcase that caused him to loop over and over again, jumping a few seconds into the past every few seconds. 

“You see, I’m afraid our new recruit got Fractured. Agents who time travel too much, or do it too many times consecutively, or do it while in bad condition get Fractured. Those same forces that cause some mild discomfort cause the Fracturing process to take place.”

They reassured him that if he ever Fractures under their contract, he’d be treated immediately. He would be allowed to leave with whatever pension plan he had signed on. But they really don’t want him to, they sweetened his deal, letting him know about a nice bonus for agreeing to continue work for the Commission under a different department, and an even nicer bonus for staying in the same department. They informed him that it was a traumatic experience, that those that get Fractured are as close to death as anyone who can control the powers of time can get. Those who get Fractured become weak, needing to be monitored to prevent it from happening once again.

He doesn’t let them know that he’s been fractured several times already. He doesn’t need to. They probably already know. He wonders if the same employee that watched him Fracture all those times is still working here.

Five left his train of thoughts, now wondering if this is how he would die. He didn’t think he was allowed to die right there.

Not without fulfilling his part of the deal at the very least.

He was slowly falling asleep. Nothing bad would happen if he falls asleep, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> No closing remarks this time lol, I just hope to see you in 2 days!


	13. Will you die with the Handler?

A steady click of high heels broke the heavy silence of the third floor.

The polished lady had no idea where she was. She was about to join a meeting with an old friend when she found herself stepping into a dusty bedroom of sorts. As per Commission protocol, she stood still, waiting for her memories to sync up. Looks like she was in a different plane of existence, since her memories come to a halt after dying.

This is quite the sticky situation. The Handler never liked knowing that one of her different versions died, but at least she had an idea of what to do. She left the abandoned room and found a happy little present for her. The same man that brought her here was lying right there in front of her.

Her infatuation with the delectable Number Five struck once again.

This was more than a surprise, it was a gift. 

The Handler stepped closer to Five, deciding on the best course of action. Hmm, he hasn’t shot up and attacked her yet, could he be dead?

A quick check of the pulse told her otherwise, she allowed her hand to linger at his neck. He hasn’t yet to stop her. 

It couldn’t be Chrono-Paralysis, nor Decipherage. He wouldn’t be in one piece if that was the case. Her mind went down the alphabetical list of known side effects until she got to F.

“Number Five, did you get Fractured?” she tutted. No reaction. She was probably right. The feeling of power surged through her again. 

Her cold hands grabbed at his blazer, attempting to pull him up with no success. This is why she hated being out on the field. All the busy body work would strain her delicate arms far more than she liked. She stood straighter, this time aiming for the underarms. The Handler remembered needing to carry Lila when she was younger, the underarms were the best way to avoid getting smacked.

Oh the things she would do with her brand new doll. She would never need to succumb to the Commission's limited technology. With this tool, she could go to any point in time, space and dimension! The world was in her hands!

A creak of wooden floorboards broke the Handler’s train of thought.

The Handler shifted, placing her gun to Five’s head and faced the door. 

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here.” She smiled. It was a Hargreeves with an all too familiar face. Looks like they have one of their own as well, not that it matters anyway. “Hands in the air. Show me those palms of yours.”

Ben obliged, not wanting to risk getting his brother shot. The woman kept talking, words flowing out of her mouth like she was in love with the sound of her own voice.

“I assume you came looking for the base. Of course, you’re a little late. This one’s mine. You probably have a fragment with you, am I right?”

  
He tried feigning innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Please believe it, please please please...

“ Of course you don't,” 

Yes! 

“Now why don’t you try that again without bullshitting me this time.” 

Fuck!

He really lost his human skills huh. He froze, wracking his brain for the best possible response. The woman waved her gun around.

“Hello~ You do realize I’m holding you hostage, right? If you don’t tell me what I asked to hear I’m going to start shooting.”

Thankfully, Five was there to help him out. “Tell her you just got here, don't mention anyone other than yourself.”

“I just got here.” Her eyes narrowed.

“I’ll guide you though the best thing to say to her” Ben resisted the urge to nod. Is this what Klaus had to deal with when he was a ghost? Oh how the tables have turned.

“I came looking for Five.”

“Hmm,” her cold eyes scanned him. “Five has always been unpunctual.”

“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen him face to face in years.” Five was pretty good when it comes to avoiding the truth without lying.

“I see…”

The Handler thought about it. 

“I could just shoot both him and you then take my leave...” Ben stiffened. He just came back to life! He didn’t want to die again.

“But I won’t be able to take Five with me if you’re blocking the door. Hmm, what a situation… Oh I know, how about you carry him for me.”

The gun turned from Five’s head to his own.

“While you Hargreeves love turning against your deals, I am a woman of my word. You obey my every word and I leave you alive. How’s that sound?”

Ben slowly walked over to the lifeless Five. He looked even worse than the last time he saw him. As he was shifting Five around, the honest Fragment of Five told Ben about his plan.

“Look, you have to listen to her until the others find you two.”

“What about you?” Ben whispered.

“I’ll merge with the base.”

“What?” Ben’s voice was ever so slightly too high.

“I wasn’t talking to you honey. It’s called thinking out loud.”

“Oh...” Ben trailed off waiting for Five to explain.

“I have to bind with the base. It's going to start the healing process so I won’t be knocking on death’s door anytime soon.”

They stood, Five carried like a bride in Ben’s arms. The Handler noticed how his face scrunched up in pain.

“Come on now, don’t tell me that a grown man like you can’t carry a child.”

“It’s not like I had much experience.”

“That’s fair. You know, I just realized that I didn’t introduce myself. You can call me the Handler. I’d shake your hand but you’re carrying some very important cargo at the moment and I don’t want to even think about what would happen if you dropped him. Let’s go, we’re on a tight schedule.”

As they left, Ben made sure to step on one specific floorboard. Five resumed his explanation.

“I’m scared something will happen to you if I bind right now. I’m going to wait until we see the others to do it.”

Ben didn’t respond, walking down the stairs behind the Handler, making each and every step creak on the way down. He remembered which ones were noisy and which ones were safe, feeling a childlike sense of glee. He was making noise. He was alive. The information that was priceless to him as a kid was completely obsolete as a ghost, but now he was putting it to good use. He stepped with all the heft he could muster without catching the woman’s attention.

Someone should have heard them by now.

They made their way through the endless hallways, not passing by a single person on the way. Where was everyone?

“Set him down, I’m going to get something. Don’t do anything stupid.” She gestured at the door in front of them. Ben recognized it as their father’s office. This wasn’t good.

He set Five down gently on the couch right outside the door, watching as the Fragment Five’s face scrunched up in pain. 

“I think the rest are close by. Stall as much as possible.”

“What if they don’t make it. What if she takes you with her. Will you die with the Handler?”

“Calm down Ben. It’s going to be dangerous, but I don’t think she’ll let me die.”

The Five on the couch started convulsing. The Fragment looked at Ben, eyes wide and worried.

“I didn’t expect this to happen so soon. I have to bind now or I’ll die. When the other’s get here, tell them to give me my pieces back as soon as possible.”

Five hugged Ben, but before he could hug back, Five pulled away and turned to face, well, himself. 

The fragment placed his hand on Five’s forehead. The hallway glowed a soft and gentle blue as Five took in a deep breath, calming back down. It was just him and his brother. The color faded, the light going back to normal

The Handler stepped in the doorway, she barely missed seeing the light. She pocketed her gun and waved Ben over.

“Ernest, come here will you?”

Ben didn’t correct her, walking into Reginald’s office with the Handler. She led him to one of the bookcases in the back. The bottom cabinet’s doors were wide open, revealing a shelf with a few books and another cabinet. That cabinet’s doors were also open, a safe stored inside.

“Can you be a dear and pull it out for me.”

The safe didn’t budge.

“It didn’t move.”

“Are you sure you aren’t trying hard enough?”

Ben tried again, but nothing changed.

“I think it’s built into it.”

The Handler aimed her gun at Ben’s head.

“You Hargeeves… You just love to step on my nerves. I know for a fact that the safe is removable. I care about what’s under it you idiot.”

Ben bumped into his father’s desk as he was backing away, hands still in the air. 

“Look I swear I have no idea what’ you’re talking about. I’ve never seen that thing in my life.”\

“Yeah, like you aren’t his second in command and everything.”

“You’ve got the wrong guy.”

“Your legal name is Number One, but you still insist on denying it.”

“My name is Number Six...”

The Handler blinked at him for a moment, lowering her gun.

“I submitted the paperwork to incorporate labels for my dimensional memory recollections. Was my paper rejected?”

She stopped, anger taking over.

“Five probably intercepted my application! He agreed to kill the board to get rid of the evidence too.”

Just as quickly as she got angry, she calmed down. 

“No worries, I’ll just go and fix that up.”

The gun was aimed at Ben’s head for the whateverth time, it was just as intimidating as the first time. With a person this eccentric, you can’t take anything for granted. Ben really hoped his siblings were close.

“I don’t think I’ll need your help from here on out. It’s nothing personal, Ernest.”

“Actually, my name is Ben.“

Her hesitation was good enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late chapter. I had a stressful exam today and I wasn't able to sit and write properly.  
> I can't be bothered to edit it rn, so I'll fix any mistakes when I can tomorow.  
> I don't want to get your hopes up, so I'll just see you the next chapter comes out. (I'm hoping it won't take longer than the usual 2 days.)


	14. Who even is she?

Five told Luther his plan was stupid. Instead of running right to the source of the noise, he should duck into a room. So he did. As soon as the door shut behind him, he felt a harsh hand pull his on back, throwing him to the wall, knife ready at his neck. Luther kicked the offender, and flipped the light on.

“Hey!” Diego cried from the floor.

“SHHHHHH” Five shushed him.

Luther looked around, noting that almost everyone was here. Diego was getting up with Allison’s help. Deeper in the room, Klaus was making Vanya laugh. Each person’s assigned Five was here too, everyone except for Ben. Which is almost how they arrived here. Good.

“Was no one moronic enough to go straight up there?” His Five asked. “I’m actually surprised.”

“Of course they tried, we got them to meet up here before they were spotted.” Another Five whispered.

“It’s up to us to come up with a plan isn’t it?” Yet another Five asked.

“What option do we have?” His Five sighed.

Looking around, memories of the last time they all hid together like this were coming back to him. He didn’t expect to ever recall what happened the night. They had taken longer on a mission than expected, making it back to the house just past dinner time. Their father hadn't planned on a delay, refusing to let the children alter their schedules. He instructed them to resume their regular schedule while ignoring the rumbling in their bellies. They had about 20 minutes of remaining free time before they were expected to go to sleep. 

Luther has always had a problem with food. His powers depended on him to eat heartily, he can’t stand the hunger. Maybe that’s why he took up Klaus’s offer to sneak into the kitchen. Ben came along since he was always the first to get roped into Klaus’s plans. Allison, ever the eavesdropper, added herself into the equation, promising to lead Pogo away if he were to catch on. Diego had made it to the kitchen before them, having asked Vanya about the uneaten food already. Together, they helped each other silently fill their plates with whatever they could find. 

They ate a cold dinner, but their hearts were warm enough to make up for it.

Five had landed in front of them all seconds after they were done, telling them to hide. They all crammed into a small coat closet not too far away. Luther remembered how his own heartbeat felt louder than his father’s echoing footsteps. He remembered feeling Allison by his arm, holding his hand tightly. He remembered Diego breathing down his ear. He remembered Klaus and Ben pushing against his back. He remembered Vanya hesitantly holding on to his other arm when the steps got too close to the door. He remembered Five calling his father’s attention from somewhere in the kitchen. He remembered that an argument broke out between them. How it escalated to the point where Pogo had to drag Five away, their father close behind the two. He remembered the sign of relief the siblings shared. The giggles in the air, they were so close to getting caught. He remembered the rush he felt, and how well he slept that night.

Luther shifted the Five in his arms a little. 

“So...” Klaus whispered, “I’m assuming you all heard the noise?”

Nods all around.

“What was that? I don’t have an idea of what it’s supposed to be.” Diego asked.

“Really? You don’t remember your own anti-theft alarm?”

“Oh… glad it came in handy.”

“For the wrong reason. We have no idea who’s out there.” Allison pointed out.

The group shuffled around the dimly lit room, trying to keep quiet. No one knew what to do.

“We have to go out there eventually,” Vanya whispered. “Ben’s out there and Five is all, uhh, what was it again?”

“Fractured. I’m Fractured, Vanya.” One of the Fives added.

“Thanks. Five’s Fractured so we need to get him all sorted out.”

Diego snickered. “Vanya, what do you suppose we do? Just walk out there and try our luck?” 

“That’s what we usually do, isn’t it?”

“No. We create a plan of attack. We know that it’s at least Ben and someone else out there right? One intruder minimum. We could probably take them down.”

“The fact that you’ve made it to 30 amuses me.” Five muttered, the group of Fives snickered among themselves. 

“However, you’re not too off. There’s only one intruder out there, you heard the creaking on the stairs right? It was intentionally loud. It was probably Ben’s attempt at letting us know he was with them.”

The Hargreeves continued their speculations, trying to come up with a plan, only to be shushed.

“They’re outside”

Everyone quieted down, as steps got louder and louder, a woman’s voice pierced the air.

“All that money and he still couldn’t plan a proper mansion. What a waste. I should turn left here right? You should know...” the sound became fainter and fainter.

The Fives peaked up, all zeroed on on the familiar voice.

“Shit.”

“Shouldn’t she be dead?”

“How did she make it here?”

“We can’t keep hiding. We know who’s outside. She’s probably heading to the office. Come on.”

Each Five turned to their sibling, waiting for them to make a move.

“Wait hold on, what are you talking about? Who’s out there?”   
  


“An enemy. She’s probably threatening Ben into doing her bidding. If we don’t act now, we’ll have to do even more clean up later.”

“What do you want us to do then?” Allison asked.

“Listen to what I have to say exactly...”

The Hargreeves left the room and made their way to the office. They saw Ben standing outside. Klaus wanted to reach out to him, but Five held him back. He pointed to the inside of the office, where the Handler was beckoning Ben over. Seeing this as their opportunity, the plan went into action. Luther and Diego quickly and quietly sprinted across the door, just like they did when they were younger. This time, there were two versions of Five in tow. 

They got the unmoving Five fragment to combine with the Five on the couch. The hallway glowed, starting as a pale blue color, but deepening as the unseeing Five followed. The light disappeared, leaving the two brothers alone. Diego patted Luther on the back as a job well done before they both quietly made their way to the far end of the hall.

Allison silently waited by the office door, trying to find the right moment to use her power.

“...my name is Ben.”

The woman’s gun shook in her grip. Wait, gun?

“I heard a rumor that you dropped your gun!” Allison was in the room before she could think.

Shit. That wasn’t what she had to say. But she panicked, she saw the weapon aimed at Ben’s face and said the first thing that came to mind.

“I heard a rumor tha-”

“That’s enough.”

The gun was now aimed at Allison. 

“You think your silly little mind control would work on me? I’m prepared for the likes of you. You Hargreaves are always dumber than...” She trailed off, train of thought replaced with a new one. She peaked behind Allison, watching as the hallway glowed blue.

“Damn it!” She yelled. “I can’t do anything with you around! Out, out of the office!”

She ushered the two back and out, shooting a few bullets into the air to show that she was serious. 

Once in the hallway, she looked at Five, who was still unmoving on the couch. The Handler fixed her hair, took a few breaths and raised her gun again, ready to shoot.

“You know, I’m done here. I don’t want your daddy’s studies anymore. I’ll graciously take the gift I deserve and make my way out of here.” She smiled at Ben, “Sweety, I don’t think you’re coming with.”

“What? Why not? I kept my end of the deal, didn’t I?”

“Hmm,” she looked between Five and Ben. “You did, but I must say you look an awful lot like someone I know. I don’t think I can deal with that. Also, you should consider hitting the gym. Why don’t one of you two come help out.”

The Handler waved at Luther and Diego. They made their way over, watching her every move like it would tell them what she was planning. 

“If I’m not mistaken, you made yourself my daughter’s boyfriend and then broke her heart. Am I wrong?” 

“I didn’t think we were dating...”

“Really now? I didn’t think I’d be this close to pulling the trigger, but here we are. I don’t think Lila would ever forgive me for killing her ex...”

  
  


“What do you want me to do?” Luther asked, putting space between his siblings and the crazy gun lady. Klaus and Vanya weren’t spotted yet, but they also didn’t get to give Five his fragments back. New plan, if they can’t come over to Five, he’ll have to bring Five to them.

“I’ll need you to carry my cargo around and do what I say for a bit. Do you understand?”

She spoke to him like a mother speaking to a young child. He was big, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew he had to play along, even if it made his insides boil.

“Okay.”

“First do you have a fragment?”

“...a what?”

“Luther are you serious?” Klaus commented, accidently making his presence known and getting the gun aimed at him in the process. 

“What are you talking about?”

“I know I’m usually the slow one, but this is a bit much even for me.”

Luther just shot Klaus a look filled with all the confusion he could muster.

The Handler interrupted, “Well, looks like another sibling is here, and unless my memory is failing me, there should be another one of you… what was her name… Maya? Anya? Ah, Vanya.”

Vanya made herself known as well, the plan was falling apart. 

“You’re all here! Now, I do apologize, but there simply isn’t enough time for goodbyes. Let’s go, Luthor.”

He picked up his brother from the couch, noting just how limp he was. No flinch or twitch or sign of life. Luther’s face twisted, causing the Handler to laugh. 

“Don’t you worry, big boy. He just needs someone to take care of him.”

“What do you mean?” 

Back in the hiding room, the Fives told them to stall as much as possible, the Handler was always down to share her plans.

“You see, Fivey Wivey has a bad case of the Fracture.” She made her way down the hall as she spoke, aiming her gun at the head of whoever was closest. “His little soul couldn’t take the stress and broke up pieces to make room in that little head of his. If he doesn’t get his pieces back, he won’t stick around to tell us what happened. Usually, this means finding each of his parts and putting them back, but I’ve got a cool new idea to try out.”

“What are you planning?” Vanya asked.

“Great question! You see, Five’s fragments are gone. I have some fragments of mine that I could lend. It’s a win win for both of us.”

The siblings needed to say something. They had about a million questions each, but none could escape their mouths. Diego didn’t know if he could stop bullets that weren’t aimed at him, and he didn’t want to risk finding out.

“Five was a great agent. He’s amazing once you get past all the barriers he sets up.” Diego made a move to attack her, but Klaus held him back. 

The Handler laughed. She felt powerful. She was close to doing exactly everything she wanted to do in her timeline, but now she’s set back. The Handler now needs to kill the board and befriend Reginald all over again, and she doesn’t have access to Harlan like she used to. Yes she has Five, but it's not remotely the same. She wished she got access to cross dimensional, but according to Carmichael, it was too complicated to implement without the proper paperwork and Five intercepted her request to get it started.

  
  


This was a do over. A chance for her to do things better. With Five at her side, she can sit on top of the Commission and eventually, the Universe! Things just had to go right for her until she got back home.

Of course, something had to go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe... It's me again! I had sometime to write tonight so I did! It's been a while since I've written, I was afraid I'd be rusty, but I pushed through and out this chapter came!


End file.
